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In the last few years, the IT channel has seen a gradual but significant shift. From mere product pushing, the market has evolved towards value added services, keeping pace with a maturing market scenario for technology investments. Broadline distribution
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ISSUE 182 // FEBRUARY 2012 // WWW.RESELLERME.COM
PUBLICATIONLICENSED BY IMPZ
W H AT M A K E S A N I D E A L V A DFEATURE
EMBARGO COUNTRIESWith increasing pressure on compliance of IT goods to not reach into embargo countries we look at how channel partners are tightening up P25
INTERVIEW“I do not believe a regional broad line distributor can become a true VAD”Dr Ali Baghdadi, CEO and President of Aptec Group P40
MULTIPLE BUYERS, MULTIPLE MESSAGESWhy a role-based sales approach is required for complex IT sales, Neil McMurchy, Research Vice President, Gartner P49
!"#$%&'()*&++(,!
KHALID MUASHER, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER, BITDEFENDERMAZEN JABRI, HEAD OF ECOSYSTEMAND CHANNELS, SAP
NOMAN QADIR, REGIONAL MANAGER CHANNELS, CITRIXAJI JOSEPH, GENERAL MANAGER, ESET
ANISH KANARAN, REGIONAL DIRECTOR, EPICORALI HYDER, CEO, FOCUS SOFTNET
AMER ATTAR, SENIOR DIRECTOR PARTNER SALES, MISYS
1994-2011 Hewlett-Packard Company. All rights reserved. All product and company names referenced herein are trademarks of their respective owners.4AA3-3955EEE, August 2011
DON’T FALL VICTIM
TO FAKES
ORIGINAL HP SUPPLIES. THEY PAY YOU BACK
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Kuwait: +965 22612616
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we will take the appropriate action.
COVER FEATURE
CONTENTSISSUE 182 // FEBRUARY 2012
31
05 Editorial
09 Announcements
19 Awards
50 People
53 Movements
54 Profile
32 New entrant
Bitdefender has chosen to enter the region through the consumer segment and is expected to move further into the business space
Khalid Muasher, Business Development Manager Middle East, Bitdefender
33 Desktop is king
Now the preferred vendor for desktop virtualisation projects, Citrix’s challenge is to secure as much business through local partners
Noman Qadir, Regional Manager Channels MENA and Turkey, Citrix
34 Next Gen ERP
Epicor’s version 9 is an ERP reseller’s wish list come true. The snappy ramp up of partners reflects the bullish sentiment
Anish Kanaran, Regional Director, Epicor
35 Hybrid distribution
With 30% of revenue from retail, ESET is looking at both broadliners and VADs to boost sales
Aji Joseph, General Manager, ESET
36 SMEs and ERP
Repeat business from its SME customer base and demand for ERP are primary drivers for Focus Softnet
Ali Hyder, CEO Focus Softnet
37 Partner’s bank
The Middle East and Africa has the highest contribution of partner deals for Misys’ products
Amer Attar, Partner Sales, Senior Director MEA, Global Partners Group, Misys
38 Partner Edge 2.0
SAP uses an innovative document framework to govern and manage its partner relationships
Mazen Jabri, Head of Ecosystem and Channels, SAP Middle East and North Africa
SPEAK OUT07 Leaders and CIOs Channel partners are used
to being part of formal vendor programmes. But CIOs today also face informal career and skill qualification hurdles as
they wrestle with challenges faced by their business. Gartner’s Mark McDonald explains the mindset of today’s CIO and a forum helping peer to peer networking.
FEATURE40 “I do not believe
a regional broad line distributor can become a true VAD”
Dr Ali Baghdadi, CEO and President of Aptec Group
43 Ideal VAD
What are the factors that make VADs indispensable for vendors and what do VADs need to do to reach such heights
47 Rewarding a VAD
A look at Wafa, Optimus’ innovative partner loyalty programme
48 FAQ: deal and value based engagements
49 Multiple buyers, multiple messages
Why a role-based sales approach is required for complex IT sales
A look at various channel partner strategies adopted by ERP, banking, security, enterprise application vendors in the region
Software channels
IN FOCUS25 No entry With the increasing
pressure on compliance of IT goods to not reach into embargo countries
we look at how channel partners are tightening up
Reseller Middle EastFEBRUARY 2012 3
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The first month of 2012 is over and all appears quite on the
technology front. Or is it? A slow and steady transformation appears
to be underway in the business of technology reselling.
The software channel story and our focus on what makes an ideal
value added distributor were supposed to be independent stories
in this issue. However once we concluded both the stories, there
are compelling interconnects of one with other. In the software
channel story, Citrix’s Noman Qadir tells us about his satisfaction of
working with Mindware as a value added distributor. And in the ideal
VAD story, EMC’s Havier Haddad explains the close engagement
with value added distributor Computerlinks. Across the same story,
Westcon’s Steve Lockie throws clarity on why certain distribution
models become an imperative at certain times of the product life
cycle. And why it is not a question of following the herd but rather on
following the requirements of the end user and the product life cycle.
This issue of Reseller therefore almost runs like a continuous special
on the value added distribution model. Close to twenty pages of the
most relevant information available in the market on the subject, and
we hope immensely useful for the respected reader. Turn to page 31
for software vendor snapshots and to page 40 to enter the realm of
value added distribution.
Moving on, we approach the subject of spurious technology
trade into embargo countries. We review the various preventive
approaches being incorporated at distribution companies. More
about this on page 25.
In the January issue of this year we presented some powerful
forward looking statements from Gartner. Around the subject of
Cloud they stated the following: By 2016, more than 50% of Global
1000 companies will have stored data in the public Cloud; by 2016,
40% of enterprises will make proof of security testing precondition
for using Cloud services; by 2015, low-cost Cloud services will
cannibalise 15% of outsourcing revenue; and by 2015, the prices for
80% of Cloud services will include an energy surcharge.
Our March issue addresses the subject of sales and delivery of
Cloud services in the region. We also open up our partner parley
evenings on the same subject in the month of March.
Look forward to seeing you there !
EDITORIAL
Transforming partners Publisher
Dominic De Sousa
Group COONadeem Hood
Managing DirectorRichard Judd
richard@cpidubai.com +971 4 440 9126
EDITORIAL
Senior EditorArun Shankar
arun@cpidubai.com +971 4 440 9142
ADVERTISING
Commercial DirectorRajashree R Kumar
raj@cpidubai.com +971 4 440 9131
Advertising ExecutiveMerle Carrasco
merle@cpidubai.com +971 4 440 9134
CIRCULATION
Database and Circulation ManagerRajeesh M
rajeesh@cpidubai.com +971 4 440 9147
PRODUCTION AND DESIGN
Production ManagerJames P Tharian
james@cpidubai.com +971 4 440 9146
Art DirectorKamil Roxas
kamil@cpidubai.com +971 4 440 9112
DesignerAnalou Balbero
analou@cpidubai.com +971 4 440 9104
PhotographerCris Mejorada
cris@cpidubai.com +971 4 440 9108
DIGITALwww.rwme.net
DIGITAL SERVICES
Digital Services ManagerTristan Troy P Maagma
Web DevelopersJerus King Bation
Erik BrionesJefferson de Joya
Louie Alma
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Printed byUnited Printing Press
© Copyright 2012 CPIAll rights reserved
While the publishers have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of all
information in this magazine, they will not be held responsible for any errors therein.
Arun ShankarSenior Editorarun@cpidubai.com
Reseller Middle EastFEBRUARY 2012 5
Leaders and CIOsChannel partners are used to being part of formal vendor programmes. But CIOs today also face informal career and skill qualification hurdles as they wrestle with challenges faced by their business. Gartner’s Mark McDonald explains the mindset of today’s CIO and a forum helping peer to peer networking.
A CIO is a leader when they are
able to not only deliver current
results, with today’s resources
and priorities, but also make
decisions that keep existing options open
and create new opportunities for their
enterprise.
This requires a CIO leader to understand
both technology, but more importantly the
application of technology to people, the
way they work, the company’s culture and
its capabilities. !A leader finds ways to make
the organisation better by removing issues
today and amplifying the organisation’s
strengths and ambitions. Today CIOs face
challenges across three fronts: organisational,
technology and business. !
Organisationally, CIOs face a major skills
challenge. !Getting the right people with the
right skills into IT is a persistent issue for
CIOs. !Traditionally this has been thought of
as a sourcing issue — in other words I can
buy the skills I need either by hiring people
away from other companies or hiring an IT
outsourcing firm. That approach was su"cient
in an environment of relatively stable skills
and workforce requirements. !Unfortunately
new technologies are raising demand for new
skills that simply do not exist in the market.
CIOs need to face this challenge by leading
their organisation in developing those critical
skills in house, rather than waiting for a
market to emerge. !
Technology and the pace of technological
change is another challenge. The pace of
technological change has always been rapid,
but it is getting even faster as the number
of people inventing new applications and
technologies has exploded. !Social media,
mobile applications, analytics and the internet
have dramatically accelerated the pace of
technology innovation. !Cloud services have
reduced the barriers to bringing these services
to a global market creating new sources of
competition for CIOs and IT. CIOs need to
understand both the nature and source of
new technologies and technical innovations
to provide the leadership and guide the
organisation to apply the solutions that make
the most sense today and in the future. !
Business challenges set the context
for the CIO as they reflect the resources,
priorities and requirements for agility. !Clearly
business challenges both economically,
geo-politically and industry wise require CIOs
Mark McDonald
SPEAKOUT
Organisationally, CIOs face a major skills challenge. Getting the
right people with the right skills into IT is a persistent issue for CIOs
to have a degree of certainty in executing
current plans but ever increasing levels of
flexibility to response to changes in business.
Many of these changes can be positive, for
example growth, an acquisition opportunity,
new products or services. !Here CIOs
cannot say, wait until I finish this and then
we can take advantage of those business
changes. !Rather they need to flow their
priorities, their people and their attention to
finish what is needed and fulfil the promise
associated with change. !
The CIO Leadership forum is unique in
the sense that it enables CIOs to address
the challenges mentioned above in their
unique but interrelated ways. !First, the
leadership forum gives CIOs and IT leaders
the ability to hear from Gartner analysts on
the business and technology issues shaping
the future. !Gartner speaks from a global
perspective to bring the technology insights
to CIOs. !Second, the CIO Leadership forum
recognises the importance of peer-to-peer
interaction as it contains interactive sessions
around issues that matter to IT today and the
business in the future. !Finally, the opportunity
to work one-on-one with a Gartner analyst on
your specific issues in your context provides
valuable insight and acceleration to your
ideas and plans.
Mark McDonald, PhD is Group Vice President, Head of Research for Gartner Executive Programmes and a Gartner Fellow.
The pace of technological change has always been
rapid, but it is getting even faster as the number of people inventing new applications and technologies has exploded
Reseller Middle EastFEBRUARY 2012 7
Technology is short term, but partnership is long term
Global sourcing - local supportIn a world of technologies, focusing on the ones that deliver benefit is good for your business. That’s why FVC partners with global IT leaders to bring the most effective, most transformative products and technologies to you, our channel. From telepresence to network traffic management, security to WAN optimisation, we are the leading VAD in MENA, supporting products with logistics, implementation and training. Let us be your partner of choice for tomorrow.
HP announced
changes to its
Partnerone
and Expertone
programs
that enable
networking
channel partners
to increase market
competitiveness
and revenue
opportunities. HP
has streamlined
specialisations of its former Preferred
Partner networking channel programme in
Europe, Middle East and Africa region. All
channel partners are now in the Partnerone
programme. The Partnerone programme
enables networking partners to substantially
increase margin potential through programme
discounts, growth accelerators and rebates.
“HP o#ers a range of opportunities for
its partners, across the entire IT converged
infrastructure portfolio. Access to HP
education and training programmes, the
network design centre, and many other
partner incentives, makes doing business
with HP partners easier and more profitable,”
said Ayman Dwidar Enterprise Storage,
Servers and Networking Channel Manager,
HP Middle East.
HP meets the needs of partners of all
sizes through three new certifications for
networking:
Partners focus primarily on selling solutions to
the SMB market and o#er customers a choice
of secure, a#ordable and scalable network
solutions.
Partners sell, deliver, manage and support
secure, wired and wireless networking
infrastructure solutions.
Partners sell, deliver, manage and support
complex, end-to-end secure networking and
data centre solutions and have the expertise
and skills in designing, deploying solutions
and services spanning the networking
lifecycle. They typically have deep knowledge
of corporate networks and requirements.
HP Partnerone and HP Expertone
programmes enable channel partners to
use the HP FlexNetwork architecture to
strengthen consultative, long-term customer
relationships and create new revenue
opportunities. By o#ering open and scalable
networking solutions, partners can address
customer requirements without locking them
in to vendors and technology.
The HP Expertone programme o#ers
partners the training and education needed
to transform their customers’ proprietary
environments into open, agile networks
based on an HP Converged Infrastructure.
Professionals gain skills needed to
architect, implement and manage technology
across the enterprise. The HP Expertone
Fast Track programme accounts for existing
certifications – even those gained through
a competitor – to speed the HP networking
certification process.
HP Expertone programme provides
partners with:
Hands on technical and certification
training delivered through newly announced
HP Expertone Learning Solution Partners.
O#erings include customised courses, access
to remote labs and web-based learning
applications, with initial courses focusing on
HP Networking.
Access to easy-reference training
materials and study guides through HP Press,
in the form of traditional books, e-books and
mobile applications. The first five technical
certification exam study guides focus on
networking certifications.
Certifications through HP Institute, a
global academic programme to be available in
several thousand institutions by 2014. Students
can earn architect-level HP certifications
through integrated hands-on experience with
remote labs in a classroom environment.
HP revamps networking channel programme
HP first to enable thin clients with Microsoft device managerHP announced it is the first company
to enable customers to unify device
management across their businesses by
o#ering select thin clients with preinstalled
Microsoft Windows Embedded Device
Manager 2011. HP is helping enterprises
extend Microsoft System Centre
Configuration Manager 2007 from PCs
and servers to the Windows Embedded
Standard-based HP t5740e and t5570e
thin clients through a single management
console.
“HP thin clients built on the Windows
Embedded platforms are ideal for IT
management and growing in popularity,”
said Kobi Elbaz, Director, Client Solutions,
HP Personal Systems Group EMEA.
“Our thin clients will enable customers
to broaden the reach of their existing
investments in Microsoft System Centre
Configuration Manager 2007 to encompass
PCs, servers and thin clients.”
HP thin clients running Windows
Embedded Device Manager 2011 o#er
enhanced inventory management and
deeper visibility of the components on each
thin client. The
preinstalled
agent also
facilitates
easier software
upgrades
and provides
full life cycle
management.
In addition,
Windows
Embedded
Device
Manager 2011 enables updates to be sent
to a thin client via a management tool to
automatically adjust the state of the write
filter, allowing easy and successful updates.
IN THE BEGINNINGAnnouncements
Ayman Dwidar Enterprise Storage, Servers and Networking Channel Manager, HP Middle East.
Kobi Elbaz, Director, Client Solutions, HP Personal Systems Group EMEA
Reseller Middle EastFEBRUARY 2012 9
IN THE BEGINNINGAnnouncements
Huawei, a global networking and
communication solutions provider, has
become the world’s largest contributor
to LTE standards and patents in the
telecommunications industry. Huawei’s
dedication to sharing its technological and
intellectual property has benefitted a diversity
of partners in the LTE value chain as the
company continues to play a fundamental
role in the development of the global market.
As of October 2011, Huawei also submitted
more than 7,900 LTE, EPC contributions to
the 3G Partnership Project —- a global mobile
broadband standards initiative, including more
than 230 approved contributions of LTE Core
Specifications.
Huawei’s contribution to LTE standards
and patents has been pivotal in the
company gaining the lead in global LTE
commercialisation as the top ranked brand
worldwide with more than 50% market share.
According to the Global Mobile Suppliers
Association report, Evolution to LTE, released
in October 2011, out of the 35 commercial
LTE networks launched globally to date, 18 of
them use Huawei’s end-to-end SingleRAN LTE
solution.
“Based on customer centric innovation,
sharing intellectual property rights with the
industry and complying with international
IPR rules, Huawei has become a leading
LTE industry player and contributor to LTE
standards and patents,” noted Leo Xu,
President of Solutions and Marketing, Middle
East, Huawei. “We have established more
than 20 joint innovation centres with global
Huawei leads as global contributor to LTE standards
operators and now
lead the strong
development of
the LTE industry.”
As a pioneer
in the field of
mobile broadband
and LTE
technologies in
particular, Huawei
has been involved
in a number of
landmark projects
in the region during 2011, including the
deployment of the region’s widest LTE network
in the UAE as well as the recent launch of LTE
TDD services in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Earlier this month, Huawei also successfully
deployed and verified the capabilities of its
new E-Band microwave equipment during
a comprehensive LTE test network, marking
a crucial step in helping global operators
accommodate large-bandwidth LTE services.
Smart grids key to urban sustainability, says SAPWith cities emitting close
to 80% of all global carbon
dioxide emissions, the way
people plan, build and interact
with the urban environment is
irrevocably trending towards
sustainable solutions. “ICT
holds the key to reaping
the benefits of a connected
world of cities and a socially
empowered population,”
said Dr Maher Chebbo, VP
EMEA, Utilities and Services
Industries, SAP, speaking at the Eye on
Earth Summit in Abu Dhabi.
“Smart grids will take us to a place
where utilities, service providers, devices
and consumers are connected in an
e-marketplace – a place where powerful
data analysis can lower ecological
footprints, reduce increased energy
demand and help manage resources in
closed loop systems.”
Smart grids are already proving
increasingly influential in Europe, with 211
projects up and running and
investment totalling $6.7 billion to
date. According to a study by Pike
Research, worldwide investments
in smart grid infrastructure
could amount to around $200
billion between 2008 and 2015.
Digital and eminently adaptable,
smart grids are bidirectional and
capable of meeting growing user
demand to become proactive
consumers that manage and
produce energy more e"ciently,
as well as reduce CO2 emissions. They also
obviate the need for electricity to flow from
large central plants by integrating scattered
renewable energy production to the grid.
“At SAP, we are deeply committed to
a leadership role in the development and
application of ICT tools and technologies
able to turn the smart grid vision into reality,
building on our long-standing partnership
with SAP energy actors on both the supply
and demand sides of energy markets,”
explained Chebbo.
SAP’s progressive stance on such
technologies recently yielded SAP Smart
Meter Analytics, which leverages SAP’s
in-memory computing to take the mass
of data hailing from meters, supervisory
control and data acquisition and other
sources and process it in real time.
Regarded as a vital cog in the smart grid
arena, SAP’s revolutionary In-Memory
computing technology, better known as
HANA, has the astonishing potential to
report 3,600x faster than existing systems
and analyse 460 billion data records in less
than a second.
“Through ICT and smart grid
innovation we will ensure that energy is
no longer a commodity once it becomes
optimised” Chebbo concluded.
More than 2,000 utilities in 70
countries around the globe use SAP for
Utilities solutions, representing a 65%
market share. Recently, SAP was named
the 2010 Smart Grid Integrator of the Year
by the readers of the New Economy, World
News Media.
Leo Xu, President of Solutions and Marketing Middle East, Huawei
Dr Maher Chebbo, VP EMEA, Utilities and Services Industries, SAP
10 Reseller Middle East FEBRUARY 2012
IN THE BEGINNINGAnnouncements
The next major version of Interactive
Intelligence’s IP communications software
suite, Customer Interaction Centre is now
available in the Middle East. “The latest
version of CIC gives contact centres and
enterprises significantly increased scalability
and reliability, an enhanced user experience
and improved management insight. Version
4.0 gives customers an easier to deploy
and more cost e#ective alternative to what
is currently on the market,” says Shaheen
Haque, Territory Manager, Middle East and
Turkey at Interactive Intelligence.
CIC 4.0’s new real-time speech analytics
application, Interaction Analyzer, provides
real time keyword and phrase spotting
on either the customer side or agent side
or both sides of a voice conversation.
This real time capability enables contact
centre managers to be alerted to problem
interactions, monitor, coach, or intervene to
better satisfy customers and improve agent
performance.
Architectural improvements in CIC 4.0
provide significant scalability increases.
Metrics associated with these improvements
include a more than double increase in the
number of automatic call distribution, a five-
time increase in the number of simultaneous
interactive voice response sessions
supported, and a seven-time increase in the
number of calls that can be recorded per
hour. The company’s increase in product
scalability is part of its continued move up-
market to make CIC a competitive o#ering
for the largest global contact centres.
Another architectural improvement is
the elimination of third party call processing
software and moving all media processing
to the company’s Interaction Media Server.
With these enhancements, CIC 4.0 becomes
a pure application server that can be located
at a central data centre with media servers
at branch o"ces, thus creating a private
Cloud deployment model.
CIC 4.0 continues the focus of providing
a better
customer service
experience
by providing
improved tools
and features.
This includes
the addition
of Interaction
Web Portal, a
new application
that monitors,
records, reports
and tracks agent
and queue activity in a single web portal
environment for executives as well as
supervisors. Further enhancements in CIC
4.0 include a new Web client for agent and
business users, upgraded threaded email
queuing and handling, more e"cient queries
of call, email, web chat, fax recordings, and
expanded and improved reporting along
with Interaction Reporter.
Interactive Intelligence releases CIC ver 4.0 in ME
Shaheen Haque, Territory Manager, Middle East and Turkey, Interactive Intelligence
Trend Micro leads in global end point security market
Trend Micro, a
global Cloud
security
solutions
vendor,
maintained
its lead in the
corporate
endpoint
server security
market with
an estimated
23.7% market share, according to IDC’s
“Worldwide Endpoint Security 2011-2015
Forecast and 2010 Vendor Shares” report.
IDC’s overall estimate for the server
security market size is $439.2 million, with
a growth rate of 6.1% and expected to
reach $694.4 million by 2015. IDC noted
in the report that the growth of mobile
devices within the workplace and the
intersection of mobile and virtualisation
helped fuel the need in server security.
Cloud adoption is also driving the upward
trajectory of the server security market
as enterprises seek to secure their Cloud
environments.
“Server security is an important
market, distinct from the endpoint and
network security markets and one that
continues to grow alongside Cloud
computing. With more companies moving
toward data centre consolidation,
virtualisation and Cloud applications, a
data-centric focus is essential. Server
security needs to increase -- this is where
security needs to be, and this is where
Trend Micro stands out,” added Charles
Kolodgy, Research Vice President, Secure
Products, IDC.
“This is further validation that
worldwide, enterprises are looking to
Trend Micro for their server security
needs,” said Eva Chen, CEO.
For comprehensive server
protection, Trend Micro o#ers Deep
Security, which is designed to provide
system and application security across
physical, virtual and Cloud environments.
Deep Security meets the challenging
operational security and compliance
needs of today’s dynamic data centre.
It combines intrusion detection and
prevention, web application protection,
firewall, integrity monitoring, log
inspection and anti-malware capabilities
in a single, centrally managed enterprise
software solution. Deep Security also
provides the industry’s first and only
agent less security suite for VMware
environments, enabling enterprises to
attain even higher consolidation rates,
faster performance, better manageability
and stronger security.
Eva Chen, CEO, Trend Micro
Reseller Middle EastFEBRUARY 2012 11
Spectrami
announced it
has signed a
distribution
agreement
with Varonis
Systems, a
global vendor
for unstructured
data
governance
solutions for
the Middle East
region. Spectrami will play a fundamental
role in its go to market strategy for the
Middle East region. Varonis delivers its
solutions exclusively through channel
partners and treats them as an extension
of its sales team.
“We are glad to partner with Varonis
and bring unique unstructured data
governance solutions to the region,” said
Anand Choudha, Managing Director,
Spectrami. “Spectrami will o#er Varonis
solutions, training, marketing and sales
tools to its channel partners in order to
accelerate growth in this fast growing
data governance market segment in
our region.” Spectrami is authorised to
distribute data governance solutions from
Varonis across the Middle East region
including Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and
Oman among others.
“Varonis is very pleased to have
Spectrami as a distributor in the Middle
East,” said Jim O’Boyle, Senior Vice
President of Sales at Varonis. “The
Spectrami and Varonis
partnership will
HP announced
Odyssey, a
project to redefine
the future of
mission-critical
computing with
a development
roadmap that
will unify Unix
and x86 server
architectures to
bring industry
grade availability,
increased performance and client choice to a
single platform.
Using advanced technology across
a common modular HP Bladesystem
architecture, HP is developing platforms to
enable clients to choose the best environment
aligned to their organisations’ needs without
compromise, helping ensure investment
protection for the long term.
HP’s new development roadmap includes
ongoing innovations to HP Integrity servers, HP
Nonstop solutions and the HP-UX and OpenVMS
operating systems. The roadmap also includes
delivering blades with Intel Xeon processors for
the HP Superdome 2 enclosure and the scalable
c-Class blade enclosures, while fortifying
Windows, Linux, HP-UX environments with
innovations within the next two years.
“Clients have been asking us to expand
the mission-critical experience that is delivered
with HP-UX on Integrity to an x86-based
infrastructure,” said Alaa Al Shimy, Enterprise
Storage, Servers and Networking Director, HP
Middle East. “HP plans to transform the server
landscape for mission-critical computing by
using the flexibility of HP BladeSystem and
bringing key HP technology innovations from
Integrity and HP-UX to the x86 ecosystem.
Unlike the competition, HP o#ers an open,
integrated, single platform approach.”
By expanding mission-critical HP
Converged Infrastructure and bringing select
proven innovations to x86 systems, HP will
enable clients running Linux, such as Red Hat
Enterprise Linux, or Windows to:
DragonHawk symmetrical multiprocessing x86
systems that will scale to hundreds of cores
and support large, complex workloads.
four and eight socket HydraLynx scalable x86
server blades with mission-critical virtualisation
and availability, all packaged in the robust
C-Class enclosures of HP BladeSystem.
applications with the HP Serviceguard solution,
which automatically moves application
HP to converge X86 and HP-UX mission critical platforms
Varonis Systems ties up with regional VAD Spectrami
Alaa Al Shimy, Enterprise Storage, Servers and Networking Director, HP Middle East
Continue on page 154
Anand Choudha, Managing Director, Spectrami
workloads between servers in the event of a
failure or on-demand request.
systems with HP nPartitions technology,
which provides precise partitioning of system
resources across multiple or variable workloads.
Analysis Engine for x86 embedded into the
system firmware.
systems with fault-tolerant HP Crossbar Fabric
that intelligently routes data within the system
for redundancy and high availability.
HP Mission Critical Services, which identify and
resolve possible sources of downtime.
“By continuing to extend the mission-
critical capabilities of the Itanium environment
while fortifying the mission-critical ecosystem
for x86, HP and Intel are providing greater
flexibility and choice – putting the customer
back in the driver’s seat for their future
mission-critical needs,” said Kirk Skaugen,
General Manager, Data Centre Group, Intel.
“Customers trust Microsoft and HP with
their enterprise computing needs,” said
Eduardo Rosini, Corporate Vice President, SQL
Server Marketing, Microsoft. “By furthering
our partnership, Microsoft and HP will bring
together the world’s leading server and
software solutions to let customers harness the
flexibility and scalability of Microsoft Windows
Server and SQL Server on HP Converged
Infrastructure for their broad mission-critical
computing needs of tomorrow.”
IN THE BEGINNINGTie ups
12 Reseller Middle East FEBRUARY 2012
Dafnia Electronics, a part of the Dafnia Group provides advanced offering of high end products and services, system integration and site solutions. We are geared towards offering innovative and honest technical consultancy, services and solutions ranging from planning to implementation in the Information Technology and Telecommunication field.
www.dafnia.ae
Datacenters
Environmental Monitoring System
IT racks and System Accessories
Technical and Lab furniture
Copper Tools and Test Instruments
Fiber Tools and Test Instruments
Cables
Outside Plant Products
Data Products
Voice Products
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
Dafnia Technologies LLC
Abu Dhabi
Tel: +971 2 6322437
Fax: +971 2 6322437
Email: marketing@dafnia.ae
SKT LLC
Ruwi, Sultanate of Oman
Tel: +968 24 750205
Fax: +968 24 789375
Email: main@sktllc.net
Dafnia Electronics LLC
Dubai, UAE
Tel: +971 4 3352995
Fax: +971 4 3349951
Email: marketing@dafnia.ae
Dafnia COM-TEC, FZCO
JAFZA
Tel: +971 4 8831401
Fax: +971 4 8831402
Email: dafcom@eim.ae
Dafnia Solutions
ME FZ LLC
Tecom (DIC)
Dubai, UAE
Email: dafnia@eim.ae
give Middle East customers access to
advanced data governance automation and
metadata framework technology, enabling
organisations to easily identify excessive
permissions and abnormal access activity
on their file systems, NAS devices,
SharePoint sites and Exchange by showing
who has access to data, who is using their
access, who shouldn’t have access, who
owns the data, and what data is sensitive.”
Varonis Systems provide solutions
that manage and protect unstructured
data that is exploding and out of control
within every organisation. The number of
documents, spreadsheets, presentations,
media files and other business data sitting
on file servers, NAS devices and semi-
structured repositories like SharePoint
and Exchange is massive and growing
fast. Data protection is necessary to
safeguard an organisation’s customers,
employees, business partners, and
investors. It is fundamental in securing an
organisation’s intellectual property and
Varonis Systems ties up with regional VAD SpectramiContinuation from page 12 4
Diabetics in Kuwait, Iraq and Palestine
can now use their mobile phones to receive
personalised alerts and information on
exercise and diet, thanks to a new mHealth
service being o#ered by Qtel Group
companies. Representatives from the Qtel
Group and from some of the world’s most
innovative companies recently met in Qatar to
discuss such innovations to mobile healthcare
as well as how mobile phone technology
can be used to support key healthcare goals
across the region.
Global studies have shown that involving
mobile devices in the practice of healthcare
can have an immediate and significant
impact. In remote locations and for rural
communities, it can provide a vital link to
physicians and healthcare advisors. In major
cities, it can deliver incredible savings. US
operator Verizon estimates, according to
reports, that mobile broadband can improve
health care productivity in the US to the tune
of US$6.9 billion, which could increase nearly
eight-fold by 2016.
Representatives from Qtel’s Group of
companies gathered together to gain a
greater understanding on the dynamics of the
health industry and how operators can make
a di#erence to both patients and societies
worldwide. The workshop also explored
how specific OpCos in the Qtel Group could
take advantage of key opportunities in this
sector within their own markets and help
to build sustainable mHealth eco-systems.
Representatives at the event included
delegates from Qtel Qatar, Indosat, Wataniya
Kuwait, Nawras, Asiacell, Nedjma, Tunisiana,
Bravo, Wataniya Maldives, Wataniya Palestine,
which between them cover mobile markets
across the Middle East, North Africa and Asia.
“We are really pleased to be working
with the Qtel Group to bring this workshop
series here to Doha. Mobile is increasingly
playing a significant role within healthcare
and is supporting healthcare services across
the globe,” said Dr Craig Fridericks, Director
of Health, GSMA. We are working with mobile
network operators worldwide to highlight how
they can implement mHealth initiatives into
the market that will o#er significant health
and lifestyle benefits to end users.”
Qtel Group collaborates with GSMA on mHealth services
competitive edge, and for maintaining
the organisational trust required for it to
properly function.
According to IDC, 80% of
organisational data is unstructured
and will grow by 650% in the next
five years. The Varonis Metadata
Framework is designed to handle ever
increasing volume and complexity for
ongoing, scalable data protection and
management and enables secure, digital
collaboration.
IN THE BEGINNINGTie ups
Reseller Middle EastFEBRUARY 2012 15
IN THE BEGINNINGAnnouncements
Software AG integrates Terracotta technology in five months
Empower launches world-class call centre for 16,000 customers
ACT secures off-site disaster recovery With HP converged infrastructure
Emirates Central Cooling Corporation
launched a world-class call centre at its
headquarters in Dubai Healthcare City to
enhance ways to interact with customers.
Ahmed Bin Shafar, CEO, Empower, expressed
his satisfaction over the newly launched centre
that is equipped with advanced communications
solutions. The centre forms part of the
company’s strategy to move its customers to
digital channels and thus save their time and
e#ort when dealing with Empower.
Empower’s 16,000-strong customer
base includes individual customers as well
as large businesses, including projects in
Dubai International Financial Centre, Dubai
Healthcare City, Jumeirah Beach Residence
and Business Bay. The new call centre reflects
the core values of Empower and reinforces its
position on the global front as an organisation
that delivers e"cient service. The system
is designed to manage customers’ queries
through increased e"ciency and productivity.
The centre is designed to receive multi
queries at the same time, with a capacity
of 1,000 calls per day to enhance customer
satisfaction as well as employee productivity.
The Dubai based company believes that district
cooling technology achieves optimal results not
only to customers but also to the society at a
socio-economic level by reducing the electricity
and water consumption, thus conserving the
environmental resources in the UAE.
Software AG announced successful integration
of Terracotta technology into its product stack
in only five months. The integrated technology
o#ers customers a new clustering solution
– Terracotta Server Array – which enables
webMethods to take full advantage of Cloud-
based deployment environments. In addition,
Terracotta’s Ehcache caching technology
dramatically improves product performance for
CentraSite by up to 50%. This release is the first
step in ensuring that customers can fully benefit
from the convergence of Cloud computing.
“We worked quickly to incorporate
Terracotta’s technology into our product suite
so that our customers could take full advantage
of cost savings and performance improvements
from Cloud and in-memory based solutions,”
said Dr Wolfram Jost, Chief Technology O"cer
and member of the Executive Board, Software
AG. “We want to deliver the tools that will help
enterprises gain greater control over their
business processes in the most scalable manner
possible.”
Software AG acquired Terracotta for its
in-memory technology. Terracotta’s in-memory
processing will provide the foundation for
Software AG’s Cloud o#erings. With in-memory
data access up to 1,000 times faster than
database access, Software AG can support
existing and new customers with significantly
larger business process excellence projects. As
Software AG looks to the future, Terracotta will
deliver the in-memory data management layer
that powers the enterprise Cloud.
HP announced that Aqaba Container
Terminal, part of APM Terminals’ global
terminal network, has virtualised its
main data centre with HP Converged
Infrastructure to guard against loss
of critical data and keep services
available. The highly available new
IT environment with o#-site disaster
recovery has quadrupled Aqaba’s
system performance while reducing
costs, and is considered the ideal
model for virtualisation.
“Aqaba Container Terminal is
always looking to update its secure,
reliable IT environment to ensure
the highest levels of service,” says
Munther Dweik, IT Manager. “The
new HP infrastructure automates
previously manual tasks and simplifies
management, which means we spend
less time on maintenance.”
Aqaba Container Terminal IT team
replaced 42 outdated rack-mounted
servers running communications and
applications for terminal operations
with just one HP ProLiant BladeSystem
c7000 enclosure containing 10 HP
ProLiant BL465c G5 and G6 server
blades running VMware. Customer-
defined factory configuration and
onsite installation by HP Factory
Express ensured that the new HP
servers were deployed in minutes,
speeding time to value and freeing IT
sta# for more valuable tasks.
Aqaba Container Terminal is a joint
venture between Aqaba Development
Corporation which is the Jordanian
Government’s central development
vehicle for the Aqaba Special
Economic Zone and APM Terminals, a
leading container terminal operator.
16 Reseller Middle East FEBRUARY 2012
IN THE BEGINNINGAwards
In the presence of HH Sheikh Majid Bin
Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum and others,
Jawad Al Redha, Microsoft Gulf’s Head of
Government Interface for Intellectual Property
Rights was awarded a Gold Medal of Merit
in outstanding accomplishments by Tatweej
Academy in recognition of his e#orts towards
IPR protection.
Microsoft’s Redha recognised by Tatweej for IPR efforts
Cisco awarded best partner by Dubai Women’s College
Cisco announced it is has been awarded
Best CSR Partner at Dubai Women’s College
awards ceremony. The annual ceremony,
held under the patronage of HE Sheikh
Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, UAE
Minister for Higher Education and Chancellor
of the Higher Colleges of Technology, took
place at Dubai Women’s College.
Omar Shaban, Director, Global
Operations, Cisco, commented: “We are
delighted to receive the Best CSR Partner
award from Dubai Women’s College.
Through the Cisco Networking Academy
Programme, we aim to develop the
right technical expertise, particularly a
highly skilled workforce that support the
demands of the ICT industry and serve as
a catalyst for socio-economic development
in the region.”
Cisco’s award was in recognition
of its long-term partnership with Higher
Colleges of Technology and the launch
of Cisco Networking Academy courses
throughout campuses of Higher Colleges
of Technology including Dubai Women’s
College. The courses include Cisco-ITE,
Cisco Certified Network Associate and
Cisco Certified Network Professional
as well as seminars conducted by
Cisco specialists and field visits. Cisco
Networking Academy is a global education
programme that teaches students how
to design, build, troubleshoot and secure
computer networks for increased access
to career and economic opportunities in
communities around the world.
Al Redha has been an integral part
of Microsoft Gulf’s region-wide e#orts to
protecting intellectual property rights. He
has over 12 years of extensive experience
in promoting IPR and working in close
coordination with various Arab governments
in the region. In recent months Al Redha has
been involved in a series of IPR protection
related initiatives, including joint e#orts with
the UAE Ministry of Justice, UAE Ministry
of Foreign A#airs and the Emirates IPR
Association. He has also been working
closely with the Government of Sharjah to
promote IPR protection among the emirate’s
business sector.
Commenting on the award, Jawad Al
Redha said, “I am honoured by this recognition
from Tatweej. This award inspires me to
strive even harder to tackle software piracy
and violation of intellectual property rights.
Our commitment within Microsoft remains
strong and we are dedicated to working with
government o"cials to support the use of
original content.”
Jawad Al Redha, Microsoft Gulf’s Head of Government Interface for Intellectual Property Rights was awarded a Gold Medal of Merit for outstanding accomplishments by Tatweej Academy
Reseller Middle EastFEBRUARY 2012 19
IN THE BEGINNINGAwards
Canon Middle East, honoured performing
partners during the 2011 Awards, at the
recently concluded Canon Partners
Conference in Istanbul, Turkey. Organised
under the power of partnership theme,
the awards recognised the contributions
of Middle East partners in Canon’s growth
performance in the region.
Over 100 partners from 45 countries
in the Middle East, North and East Africa
attended the partner conference, which
was organised in line with Canon Middle
East’s 10th anniversary celebrations. The
company presented its business strategies
and objectives for 2012 during the event and
conducted discussions about the important
role of its partners in achieving its mission
to be closer to its customers. Canon also
discussed various product segments and
outlined its strategy of breaking down the
market further into segments, which will
enable its partners to deliver to the right
product segments.
Anurag Agrawal, Managing Director,
Canon Middle East, said: “Canon’s ability to
maintain a healthy, constructive and dynamic
relationship with its partners serves as the
strong foundation that allows us to maintain
our market stronghold in the region.”
The winners of the B2B Awards were
Di#azur Sarl, Morocco in the corporate
o"ce black and white category; El Ajou
Group Trading Company, Saudi Arabia in the
corporate o"ce colour category; Al Badri
Information Technology, Iraq in the digital image
management system category; Neolt Graf,
Morocco in the large format printers category;
and Salam Technical Services, Qatar in the
professional print category.
Di#azur Sarl, El Ajou Group Trading
Company, Al Badri Information Technology
and Neolt Graf were recognised for their
excellent performance in increasing market
share in their respective product categories
through market coverage. Salam Technical
Services received the award in recognition
of its outstanding sales achievement and
performance in professional print.
In the B2C Awards, Salam Studio and
Stores topped the digital SLR category for
its performance in increasing market share
for DSLR; Ali Zaid Al Quraishi and Bros won
the DSC and Selphy category in recognition
of both unit and
revenue growth in
DSC; Advanced Digital
Imaging Sal won in
the HD video category
in recognition of its
focus on promoting
the video category;
General Electric and
Trading was winner
in the inkjet products
category in recognition
of its performance
in increasing market
share for inkjets;
and Sabi Systems won the award in the
laser products category in recognition of its
performance in laser through the successful
launch of Sabi System Canon Club.
Canon Middle East gave away a special
10th anniversary recognition award to
National Store, the flagship company of JK
Sons Group in recognition of its long-standing
Canon partnership and for achieving year-
on-year sales and market share growth in
the photo-video category. The President
Award winner went to Ali Zaid Al Quraishi and
Bros, which was recognised for its all-round
performance for sales and market share gain
in the photo video product category.
Canon Middle East is a subsidiary of
Canon Europe. In 1998, Canon set up a
representative o"ce in Dubai to help partners
deliver with additional support. By 2001,
Canon had transformed into a full subsidiary
with logistics facilities, and in 2002 moved
into its Dubai Internet City o"ce. In 2005,
Canon North Africa based in Paris became
a 100% subsidiary of Canon Middle East.
Canon Middle East further expanded its
area of responsibility to include East African
markets in June 2011. Today this Canon o"ce
manages sales, marketing and technical
support activities across 45 countries in
the Middle East as well as East African and
French-speaking African countries.
Top partners recognised at Canon 2011 awards
20 Reseller Middle East FEBRUARY 2012
Software AG wins European business award for growth strategy
RIM recognises best Blackberry EMEA application developers
Software AG, a global vendor of
business process excellence solutions,
was confirmed as winner of the HSBC
International Growth Strategy of the
Year at the European Business Awards
2011 in Barcelona. The accolade
reflected Software AG’s growth over the
past 18 months following the launch of
its product portfolio.
The award recognised the
company’s shift in focus from product to
process had led to significant growth.
For Phil Forrest, chairman of judges,
“Software AG’s 40 years of innovation
in o#ering customers a portfolio of end
to end business process management
solutions is proof that in the highly
competitive world of software supply,
specialisation and focus on a key
performance improvement can deliver
e#ective growth.”
Karl-Heinz Streibich, CEO, Software
AG said: “This prestigious award is proof
that focus combined with agility creates
competitiveness. We are a European
software company competing in a world
of IT giants and it is testament to our
people to have been acknowledged in
this way.”
“Business process excellence
allows companies to continuously
monitor, manage and optimise their
business processes in order to
increase productivity and competitive
advantage while simultaneously
reducing costs,” added Darren Roos,
COO EMEA and member of the Group
Executive Board of Software AG.
Since 2007, the European Business
Awards have recognised excellence,
innovation and best practice in all
disciplines of business.
Research In Motion announced winners of the
BlackBerry EMEA Innovation Awards 2011. Now
in their fourth year, the awards are the highlight
of the annual BlackBerry EMEA Alliance Summit,
recognising and rewarding organisations
from within BlackBerry Alliance Programme
in Europe, Middle East and Africa that have
delivered value-added applications and services
to customers using the BlackBerry platform.
Each of the seven category winners has
demonstrated excellence by creating innovative
applications that provide tangible benefits to
public or private sector organisations, SMEs
or consumers. This year saw introduction of a
new category specifically to recognise solutions
for the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, as well as
a People’s Choice award. Voted for by fans
and followers via the BlackBerry Facebook
and Twitter channels across Europe, Middle
East and Africa, the People’s Choice award
recognises the most popular free application
available on BlackBerry App World.
“In developing the tools that help our
customers drive more value out of their
investment in BlackBerry devices and services,
our partners play a vital role in the continuing
development of the BlackBerry ecosystem,” said
Alec Saunders, VP Developer Relations at RIM.
Winners
sector: TechMobile Srl
Qualteh Jr
Systemhaus GmbH
Limited
Wikitude
Digital SAS
Solutions
Brother Gulf, a vendor for home
and business IT peripherals, was
presented with the Corporate
Social Responsibility Award
by ICDL GCC Foundation,
the governing body and the
certification authority of the
International Computer Driving
License programme in the Gulf
States and Iraq.
The award was given for
Brother’s support for the recent
ICDL Computer Summer Camp
2011 and also in recognition of the
company’s continuing initiatives towards the
improvement and development of computer
skills of students coming from across the
Middle East.
Thousands of students from around the
Arabian Gulf region have benefited from the
annual ICDL Computer Summer Camp, gaining
computer skills that drive them to
achieve academic excellence and
integrate in today’s digital society.
“It is an honor to receive
this distinction from the ICDL,
which stands as a testament
to our dedication towards the
development of computer skills for
today’s generation,” said Ranjit S
Gurkar, General Manager, Printing
and Solutions Division MENA
Brother International.
Brother International Gulf is a
subsidiary of Brother Group, Japan,
and maintains headquarters for the Middle
East, Africa and Turkey, at the Jebel Ali Free
Zone in Dubai. ICDL is an integrated digital
literacy programme recognised worldwide.
The programme empowers individuals with the
essential skills and knowledge of computer and
practical use of common desktop applications.
Brother awarded for International Computer Driving License camp
Ranjit S Gurkar, General Manager, Printing and Solutions Division MENA Brother International
Reseller Middle EastFEBRUARY 2012 21
IN THE BEGINNINGAwards
Schneider recognised for Smart World, Al Ain university implementationAvaya gets
product innovation award from Frost & Sullivan
Schneider Electric, a specialist in energy
management, received two distinctions at
the recently held Data Centre Middle East
Awards. Schneider Electric was named
Best Data Centre Middle East for the facility
installed for Smartworld, an airport systems
integration and aviation infrastructure
services provider. The implementation
comprised two Tier 3 data centres at Dubai
World Central, an urban aviation community
located around Al Maktoum International
Airport, Dubai, UAE. The in-row cooling
architecture reduced energy costs by 30%
while the installation o#ered support to
critical applications and the IT infrastructure
for clients of Smartworld.
Commenting on the award, Mustafa
Kaddoura, CEO of Smartworld, said: “We
have been associated with Schneider
Electric for four years, and the facility
installed at Dubai World Central is award-
winning.”
The Green Award for Sustainability
was associated for the UAE University
Data Centre project at Al Ain. Visionanire,
a solutions and services provider in the
intelligent building management domain,
designed and built the data centre that has
Schneider Electric’s APC Infrastruxure line
of products.
The new data centre was built in
response to the university’s increased
requirement for a student-base of more
than 12,000 enrolments at the new campus.
The new UAE University campus houses
one of the largest academic networks in the
region with more than 350 wiring closets
connected to over 25,000 IP ports that
o#er a link to the UAEU Data Centre via
redundant fibre. At the commencement of
the project, the University had established
a green ICT mandate to follow the
environmental sustainable philosophy of
3R’s: reduce, reuse and recycle.
Paul-Francois Cattier, Global Vice-
President Data Centre, Schneider Electric,
said: “It is always good to be recognised for
the successful implementation of solutions.
Even more encouraging is the categories
in which we have been awarded, reflecting
our commitment towards sustainable
development while providing technologies
that meet individual client needs.”Mustafa Kaddoura, CEO of Smartworld
Olivier Delepine, Vice President, UAE and Gulf countries, Schneider Electric, received the award
Avaya, a vendor of business
communications and collaboration
systems and services, announced it
has received the 2011 New Product
Innovation Award for Global Desktop
Videoconferencing Endpoints from Frost
& Sullivan for the Avaya Desktop Video
Device.
In determining the award, Frost &
Sullivan benchmarked the device in five
categories: product innovation, use of
leading-edge technologies, value-added
features and benefits, customer ROI
and customer penetration potential.
In particular, Frost & Sullivan noted: “A
key aspect of the Avaya Desktop Video
Device and the Avaya Flare Experience
is that it provides unified, people-centric
view for relevant communications in
an easy to use and intuitive way. As a
result, placing a video call is as easy as
making a phone call.” “Based on Frost
& Sullivan’s independent analysis of the
Global Videoconferencing Endpoints
market, Avaya is being recognised
with the 2011 New Product Innovation
Award,” said Roopam Jain, Industry
Director, UC and Collaboration, Frost &
Sullivan
The Avaya Desktop Video Device
is a wireless enabled desktop video
device that has an 11.6 inch multi touch
screen with an integrated high definition
video camera. The multi modal device
supports the Avaya Flare Experience
and is an integrated solution that
brings together multiple interactions
into a single communications interface.
Avaya’s Desktop Video Device supports
the entire Avaya Aura applications
portfolio and enables a user to
consolidate tools such as a desk phone,
speakerphone and video endpoint in a
single easy to use device.
22 Reseller Middle East FEBRUARY 2012
ESET secures fourth consecutive Advanced+ Award in performance test from AV-ComparativesESET announced its fourth Advanced+
award in performance testing from AV-
Comparatives, an independent research
organisation. The latest test measured the
impact on system performance of 20 antivirus
products. In addition to receiving the highest
possible number of Advanced+ awards in
performance testing, ESET has received more
Advanced+ awards in retrospective tests than
any other vendor, given to products that have
excellent heuristic detection rates and low
false positives.
AV-Comparatives provide a three-level
ranking system of standard, advanced and
advanced+ awards. To receive an Advanced+
award, products in this particular test were
compared based on how much impact the
product has on a system. ESET tops the
list as the product with the least amount of
system impact.
“Over the years and throughout di#erent
tests, we have seen that ESET develops high-
performing security solutions that have a small
impact on system performance. Receiving
Winners of Canon’s Power Image photo contest
once again the Advanced+ award in our most
recent performance test is further validation,”
said Andreas Clementi, founder and chairman
for AV-Comparatives. “Additionally, ESET has
always understood the importance of strong
heuristics in fighting malware and continues
to be the vendor with the highest number
of Advanced+ awards in AV-Comparatives
heuristic detection tests.”
Speaking on the occasion, Aji Joseph,
General Manager, ESET Middle East said: “For
a long time now, ESET has been developing
and delivering security solutions that keep us
ahead in the game and will continue to do so
in the future too.”
First prize winner, Lobna Tarek of Al
Shorouk newspaper, Egypt with her
entry “beyond the divide”
Second prize winner, Emad Alaa Aldin
of Al Bayan newspaper, UAE with his
entry “intimacy”
Third prize winner, Tania Rudenskykh
of Kul Al’Usra magazine with her entry
“bridging generations”
1
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23
2
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Reseller Middle EastFEBRUARY 2012 23
Creativity and performance on the move:Dell Precision Intel® Xeon® processor workstations
For purchase or more information contact
Dubai: (04) 398 9999 Ext. 777, (04) 314 1484
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Performance and peace of mind with exceptional value
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Balanced performance scalability and a!ordability
No entry With increasing pressure on compliance of IT goods to not reach into embargo countries we look at how channel partners are tightening up
In the month of December 2011,
the controversial site Wikileaks
posted documents indicating a
group of 150 plus IT companies
were globally marketing and selling
surveillance and IP monitoring equipment.
Included in those names were Alcatel-
Lucent, Northrop Grumman, Siemens,
VASTech, Trovicor and Sophos to name a
few.
The post immediately triggered a wave
of debate on whether IT companies and the
western governments were doing enough
to prevent export of this equipment into
the hands of repressive regimes across
the world. In the same post, a number of IT
companies were named whose equipment
had been used in select Middle Eastern
countries to control and suppress dissent in
those countries. These facts have led to a
new wave of diligence in export compliance
procedures across the regional channel
players.
“Dubai is traders central”, says Steve
Lockie, Group Managing Director MENA,
Westcon, indicating there are very few
Embargo countries
IN FOCUS
We have a record of the location and contact of every
single end user where the appliance sits and we know who the reseller and distributor was
unambiguously verify the final destination
of the shipment.
“Whenever Sourcefire takes an order
from a distributor we ask for end user
details. We have a record of the location
and contact of every single end user where
the appliance sits and we know who the
reseller and distributor was. The location is
important for us,” continues Perridge.
Adds Meera Kaul, Managing Director,
Optimus Technology and Telecom, a key
distributor for Avaya unified communication
solutions and end point products: “We do
not give a quotation unless the partner tells
us who the end customer is. A project for us
is identified by both the partner and the end
customer.”
After delivery of the product or the
solution at the final destination, the
activation process is equally stringent.
“The software licenses do not get activated
till the project is completed and the
partner ask for activation. The licenses
shipments that take place across the region
that either do not originate from Dubai
as re-exports or that do not pass through
Dubai in a more indirect fashion. While the
relevance of Dubai as a regional re-export
hub has reduced over the last four years,
the shipping and procurements hubs of
all major IT vendors continue to reside in
Dubai, making it necessary to implement
any due diligence process at this central
location.
Shipments to US or European
embargoed countries are not allowed
in any distributor contracts across the
region. While embargoed countries are
categorically blacklisted, shipments to
countries outside a distributors channel
influence are also not allowed, thereby
making the accountability of goods being
repackaged for onward shipments equally
prohibitive.
“Every partner that we have has an
assigned territory by their contract. They
are not allowed to sell out of their territory
into another distributor’s territory. When we
sign a contract with our distributor we list
the countries in which they are authorised
to operate and we have the right to audit
our partners and our distributors,” explains
Anthony Perridge, Channel Director
EMEA, Sourcefire, an open source vendor
supplying cyber security solutions to global
top 2000 companies.
While vendor and distributor partner
contracts may exclude embargoed
countries, since there is chain of partners
involved in the product and solution sell
through process it becomes imperative to
Right to audit partners and distributors, Anthony Perridge, Channel Director EMEA, Sourcefire
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Reseller Middle EastFEBRUARY 2012 25
Embargo countries
IN FOCUS
get activated with an ID that you can trace
to the end customer. That is how legal
business is done,” continues Kaul.
If the country of activation for a product
is part of the embargoed list of countries,
the vendor can deactivate online support
and upgrade services for the end user. Not
getting access to the latest support renders
the product vulnerable and therefore of
limited capability for the end user operating
from an embargoed country.
“Our product is a live product and we
need to upgrade and update the product
continuously with the latest version
and detection signatures. If you are not
upgrading and updating all the time you
are losing your protection. The day it goes
out of date it starts to lose value,” explains
Perridge.
Hence when the product is activated
and registered with a vendor, the country
of activation and the country registered
through the channel partner can be
compared and verified. But industry sources
point out, loop holes arise where parts of
a large project are diverted enroute from
the declared country of final destination
and find their way to un-declared and
often embargoed countries as the final
destination. This is more feasible in project
type orders with a large bill of quantities.
Diversion of stocks is also especially
feasible where resellers have chosen to
keep inventory at their side of the sell
through process. Resellers usually keep
We do not want any run rate business we are not aware off
26 Reseller Middle East FEBRUARY 2012
run rate and fast moving items within their
inventory to ensure they capture deals at
any particular time, especially those that
require immediate availability of product.
It is these stocks that often get sold o#
without the final destination of shipment
and the end customer getting properly
verified. “Partners at times are stocking
themselves. We want closer visibility into
where the stock is going,” says KS Parag,
Managing Director, FVC, a value added
distributor for Polycom, Riverbed and Citrix.
“Some of our solutions are run rate and
some are projects. Where stock is being
sold for a particular customer it is very clear
and it is much more foolproof when you are
looking at projects. But we do not want any
run rate business we are not aware o#,” he
continues.
A strong influence that can make
channel partners go astray and look into
neighbouring territories is the carrot
that always dangles in their direction.
For the low end of the channel supply
chain, smaller resellers can get easily
influenced by the strong demand for IT
goods into these embargoed countries.
For such channel players, “the demand of
these markets quite surpasses the risks
associated,” says Kaul.
But the size of the carrot has to be
viewed on a relative scale. For resellers
with a top line figure of a few million dollars,
the benefits of doing a few deals into the
embargoed countries may be significant.
But as you ascend the supply chain and
with increasing revenue turnover, the
benefits become less and less significant
for channel partners operating with a wider
span of operations.
“As a corporate it is a fraction of our
business globally. Why on earth would you
want to put all that at risk for one deal? It is
a matter of the relative size of the carrot,”
explains Lockie.
Another reason that drives diversion of
shipments to embargoed territories in the
Middle East can be the lack of adherence
to established processes by regional and
local o"ces of vendors. Often sales quotas
for channel partners are unrealistic and are
based on possible opportunity deals arising
from embargoed territories. Under pressure
from their principals, channel partners
accept these unrealistic targets and start to
go astray.
“If you have set unrealistic quotas that
lead channel partners to do a little bit of
this and a little bit of that, you have broken
multiple laws. Give people reasonable
quotas in the first place,” says Westcon’s
Lockie, a value added distributor for Juniper
Networks and Avaya. His advice to channel
partners: “You have to be strong enough to
say No!” to such practices.
An important step in this process is to
disregard any possible opportunity deals
arising out of embargoed countries right
from the onset. Incremental business that
stems out of embargoed countries needs
to be discounted in every possible market
sizing and growth estimate right from the
regional vendor’s o"ce downwards to
distributors and finally to reseller partners.
“We do not want to recognise any
revenue coming from these countries within
ourselves as a team. Second we do not
want to recognise any business coming
from channels. Channels will adhere to and
not do any business into these embargo
countries. We will not recognise the sale
and cancel the order and opportunity,”
As a practice we will not do any business without
the end customer being completely recognised and confirmed by the channel partner in writing
Bureau of Industry and
Commerce, US Department of
Commerce
http://www.bis.doc.gov/dpl/default.shtm
http://www.bis.doc.gov/enforcement/
unverifiedlist/unverified_parties.html
http://www.bis.doc.gov/entities/default.
htm
http://www.treasury.gov/resource-
center/sanctions/SDN-List/Pages/
default.aspx
http://www.pmddtc.state.gov/
compliance/debar.html
http://www.state.gov/t/isn/c15231.htm
US WATCH LIST
Closer monitoring of reseller stocks, KS Parag, Managing Director, FVC
Reseller Middle EastFEBRUARY 2012 27
explains FVC’s Parag. “As a practice we
will not do any business without the end
customer being completely recognised and
confirmed by the channel partner in writing.
These challenges came into question when
the end user was never known or had never
been discussed by the channel partner.
But now without the end user name we
will not do any business or recognise any
business.”
One of the strictest such compliance
measures is practised by value added
distributor Westcon across the region and
according to Lockie, it all boils down to,
“What are the ethics and values of the
organisation you are working for.” In 1993
when Westcon first set up shop in the
region it chose to concentrate on a very
small part of the market opportunity, where
it could say with as much confidence as
possible that the goods were staying within
the country, that they were not moving to
other countries as part of the grey market,
and were not being re-exported to end
users in embargoed countries. “That is a
very conscious decision,” points out Lockie.
Westcon along with its vendor partners
follow a due diligence process called “2
removed.” Internally it raises questions
such as how well do you know the reseller
partner bringing business to the table?
Does Westcon know its directors, are
any of them on a denied party list; and
in which country is the head o"ce of
the reseller. Moving to the next removed
end user are immaculately verified, then
procedures for application of the export
license need to be initiated at the earliest
and in parallel with end user discussions.
Westcon places a huge amount of
importance on internal acceptance and
incorporation of this process. The export
compliance decision making tree is part
of the sales and reseller partner induction
process at the local level and is repeated
every quarter. “If this is not done, you do
not have e#ective control.”
There is also the danger of creating an
excess paper trail as a cover for bypassing
such export compliance systems. “When
authorities investigate such cases more
than anything else, you need to show what
your intent was. Unless you can show you
have denied supply to companies in the last
month for example, you are not really living
the system and the intent is to get around
the process. That to me is what an e#ective
export compliance programme looks like,
where the intent is to make sure you have
every possible step in place for export
compliance,” says Lockie.
“This is all about business ethics. Every
single business owner is responsible for
adhering to these agreements. But can
you enforce 100% legislation either in
business or private life? There will always
be cases where organisations or individuals
are breaching these kinds of contracts for
the sake of extra money and not caring
about the system,” says Stephan Berner,
Managing Director, help AG Middle East.
Finally in the event, if there is a breach
into an embargoed country, the complete
supply chain is collectively responsible.
“But ultimately the person with the most
visibility is the reseller, to know where it is
going,” says Lockie.
In summary, for any regional channel
partner, if it can evidence it has e#ective
controls in place such as a “2 removed
strategy”, which are a part of its day to day
business operations, and the breach has
happened through no fault of its own, it is
unlikely to face legal action. //
Embargo countries
IN FOCUS
Compliance is a matter of business ethics, Stephan Berner, Managing Director, help AG Middle East
level – are there any red flags in dealing
with this reseller such as emphasis on
cash payments, incomplete end user
documentation and purchase orders and
so on. And the next removed level of
due diligence, which may include has the
reseller personally given undertakings that
it is following export compliance controls;
that it is screening and monitoring denied
party lists and so on.
Westcon has also put in place a
decision making tree to be followed by its
sales team and reseller partners for export
compliance procedures. The decision
making tree raises a number of red flags
every day and each one of them has to be
investigated whether it is a false positive or
true positive. If it is a true positive and an
embargoed country has been named, the
request for quotation is immediately denied.
On the other hand if it is a false positive
and the deal can go through along with an
export license to countries such as Pakistan
for example, after the antecedents of the
This is all about business ethics. Every single business owner
is responsible for adhering to these agreements. But can you enforce 100% legislation either in business or private life?
28 Reseller Middle East FEBRUARY 2012
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COVER FEATURESoftware
Just five years ago, the software channel would have been cluttered with resellers whose only objective was to sell licenses and boxed software. Even for enterprise grade sales, resellers would be responsible for selling
the licenses and would muster up some level of implementation skills. Today that landscape has changed completely. Almost all vendors have adopted or adapted value added distribution with enablement and skills development of partners regarded as a critical success factor. For desktop virtualisation vendor Citrix, scaling
up its resources at incountry locations along with its distributor partners is its key requirement. For ERP vendor Epicor, leveraging on its resellers industry specific skills and their ability to leverage on its next generation technology platform is a key requirement. For ESET, end point security solutions vendor, it has chosen to work with broadline distributors across its consumer products portfolio. And help them grow their value
added business to support its penetration into the enterprise segment. For banking vendor Mysis, its partner advisory group is a key component of its regional penetration strategy. For SME ERP vendor Focus Softnet, it is aggressively setting up fully enabled regional partners. And finally for ERP major SAP, its all encompassing
Partner Edge 2.0 business plan, formally maps out the road map for partner progress and delivery. Read on for a compelling snapshot on the transformation underway in this technology sector.
Reseller Middle EastFEBRUARY 2012 31
Bitdefender’s portfolio for the Middle East consists
of consumer, mobile and business products.
However consumer products are in higher
demand because of the current focus on brand
awareness in the region. The consumer products portfolio
includes Bitdefender Antivirus Plus, Internet Security and
Total Security. Bitdefender Mobile Security provides smart
antivirus and web security for devices running Android.
In the last two years the vendor has made major resource
investments in developing and consolidating its presence in
the Middle East. In the retail sector across 2011, it claims to have
overtaken its direct competitors. In the business sector, it has
introduced Bitdefender Security for Virtualised Environments and
Bitdefender Cloud Security. These products cover new client
segments, which are shifting from on-premise business solutions
to virtualisation and Cloud Security and can address demand from
SMB’s to very large enterprises.
The business solutions portfolio allows companies to
implement a unified management platform for remote installation,
configuration and reporting of all Bitdefender clients, server
and gateway products deployed throughout the network. They
proactively audit hardware and software assets within the network,
remotely configure and manage client and server system settings
and report on malware-related incidents to identify infection rates
and trends.
In 2012, Bitdefender will focus on consolidating partnerships
in the Middle East. Its Dubai o!ce will cover the Middle East and
North African region. The opening of the o!ce in the Middle East
will bring channel partners a variety of new business programmes
designed and adapted especially for Middle East and North Africa.
Bitdefender’s partner portal serves as a central navigation
point for access to tools and resources including detailed
partner programme information, marketing materials, technical
support, product information and online sales and technical
training. Bitdefender’s resellers maintain direct relationship with
end customers, while the vendor maintains relationships with
distributors and value added resellers.
With Bitdefender`s partner programme, each partner benefits
from the relationship. We mould the benefits and requirements
of the partner programme to suit the company’s size, skill set and
business goals. Some of the benefits of being a member are:
access to marketing, visibility to customers and other partners,
security solutions to increase profitability, sales and technical tools
that allow partners to approach prospective customers.
New entrant
Khalid Muasher, Business Development Manager Middle East, Bitdefender
COVER FEATURESoftware
32 Reseller Middle East FEBRUARY 2012
From an end user perspective the technology
landscape where Citrix is present has transformed
dramatically in the last three to four years. In the
field of Cloud computing and desktop virtualisation,
global vendors who were once cautious of aligning with Citrix
have started to migrate to its side. The other significant change
is the large end user activity around desktop virtualisation
driven by system integrator type of projects. “End users are
asking for system integrators to come and take ownership,”
points out Qadir.
“Globally our system integration business has grown
phenomenally in the last one to two years. We are seeing top line
business of our very large projects going to system integrators.”
However across the region, the demand for Citrix products is still
commoditised and it may still be early in the game. However the
pipeline of projects that is likely to go live in 2012 around desktop
virtualisation driven by local system integrators and resellers is
significant.
Citrix route to market has always been through value added
distributors and the model was brought in seven to eight years ago.
By bringing in this model at an early stage, Citrix has been able to
weather the economic upheavals across the regional markets. “The
beauty of this model is if a distributor can provide value, most of the
vendors have a safeguard where they do not have to make sporadic
changes to their headcount or business model. Somehow the value
added distributor creates a bu"er while taking a significant financial
risk on behalf of the vendor,” says Qadir. In comparison to other
vendors Citrix has been hiring resources, has not had an issue on bad
debts and collections and has not been impacted by tier one partners
dropping out of the market in the last one to two years.
Across the region, Citrix works closely with value added
distributors Mindware and FVC. “We have a dedicated team sitting
in the Mindware o!ces in UAE, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Any new
headcounts for Citrix will now be in outpost countries including Qatar
and Egypt.” For a value added distributor the most critical success
factor is investment in technical resources and this has not been
an issue with Mindware. Qadir rates the competency of the Citrix
Mindware team to be at par with Citrix in house engineers. Another
reason for consistent revenue growth of partners is the presence of
a “strong Citrix believer within the partner.” “If we look at the partners
who bring in most of the money, 80% of the revenue usually comes
in from partners where a guy really believes in Citrix technology,”
says Qadir. Overall Citrix channel strategy is to grow its global system
integration business and secure its regional business through local
value added resellers. It has over 50 reseller partners across the
region.
While the performance of value added resellers may be in
sync with the demand requirements of the end customer, Qadir has
concerns about the slower movement across enterprise resellers.
Desktop is king
Noman Qadir, Regional Manager Channels MENA and Turkey, Citrix
Reseller Middle EastFEBRUARY 2012 33
Epicor calls its ERP solution as the next generation ERP,
future proofed for its customers for the next 10-15 years.
“One of the di!erentiating factors is that traditional ERP
vendors have never rewritten their product,” says
Kanaran. In the case of Epicor 9, Kanaran claims that the product
has been rewritten with a true service oriented architecture using
embedded business process management and incorporates Web
2.0 bringing in social media look and feel. “With this architecture,
as an organisation you have the agility and flexibility to change.”
Epicor has converged di!erent modules into a single ERP core as
well brought in industry solutions and best practices.
Currently it has enrolled 20 value added reseller partners
across the Middle East and Africa and is looking at tripling the
number in the next three years. Amongst them Jumbo Enterprise,
the enterprise solutions division of consumer electronics distributor
Jumbo Electronics was appointed as a reseller in middle of 2011.
Epicor is looking at value added resellers who can work across the
full span of services ranging from presales with domain knowledge,
implementation with country specific functionalities and post sales
support. “We are looking at value added resellers who can build their
business around Epicor. Sometimes they take our product and build
a specific functionality over the product. They might look at micro-
verticalisation. When a customer looks at our product, they should
be able to see their business in it.” But this depends a lot on the
reseller’s ability to take the product to the customer.
Resellers who have already been selling ERP solutions, may
recognise the inside-out technology restructuring that has taken
place and may see it as a business opportunity to work with Epicor.
Value added resellers earn 30% to 40% of the license selling price as
their profit margin. With Epicor’s flexible architecture, implementation
times are shorter than traditional ERPs and lead to lower TCO costs,
one of the factors demanded by end users today. With these plus
factors, value added resellers can also earn from implementation and
other post implementation support services.
End users can also evaluate Epicor’s ERP across the following
five parameters: (i) Is the product ready for the Cloud: whether
the product is run on-premises or remotely there is no di"erence
in the source code (ii) Can the customer see their business in the
product: with best practices embedded in the product, customisation
requirements and implementation time is reduced (iii) Is there
embedded business intelligence: unstructured data can be managed
by the ERP and does not require a third party add on module (iv)
Is there integration with social media: Web 2.0 is integrated in the
ERP (v) Is it built for mobility: unlike some of the other ERP products,
Epicor 9 can run on any smart mobile device.
Today competition in increasing for Epicor as SAP and Oracle
begin to move away from large enterprises into the medium
segment.
Next Gen ERP
Anish Kanaran, Regional Director, Epicor
COVER FEATURESoftware
34 Reseller Middle East FEBRUARY 2012
When ESET entered the UAE market six years ago, it
chose to build its reseller partners directly. The
concept of value added distributor was still new and
the end point security solution vendor could not find
a good fit with any of the existing distributors. “Distributors
were reluctant to push the product because of lack of brand
awareness and they were looking at sheer numbers,” recollects
Joseph. Today, ESET has segmented its products into three
separate categories: consumer, SMB and enterprise. In terms of
revenue, 30% comes from the consumer segment and the
balance from business products.
For the consumer segment, ESET is looking at distributors
who are strong in the retail segment and has recently appointed
FDC to manage this segment. For the SMB and enterprise
segments, ESET is looking at working closely with value added
distributors. However in some countries distributors are playing
both the roles.
For ESET every product-customer engagement involves
three aspects: sales, installation and support. For the consumer
segment and small o!ce, the support is provided by ESET. But
for the business segment with larger number of users, both
installation and support are important. It is for this reason that
ESET has created a partner structure that needs to be driven by
value added distributors. The three types of ESET reseller partners
are premier, preferred and normal. Premier partners work closely
with ESET, are supported by lead generation and have access to
the maximum discount structure. However, most partners fall into
the preferred partner category, which also have access to lead
generation but a lower discount structure than premier partners.
Both premier and preferred partners are required to have trained
engineers on board for installation and a dedicated sales team to
promote the product. Any other resellers who sign up to promote
ESET products fall into the normal partner category.
“What matters the most is the e"ort partners put in and less
the volumes they generate. We look at two factors: how good is
the partner in promoting the product as well as supporting the
product,” explains Joseph. The role of the value added distributor
is to make sure that both sales and technical sta" employed by
partners are provided adequate training. While ESET maintains
it own support teams for customers, distributors and partners,
the value added distributors team is the second tier of support,
thereby adding additional breadth to training and support
resources.
Other than software licenses, ESET also extends its revenue
sharing arrangement to service delivery. Since only value added
distributors maintain technical resources, for SMB and the
enterprise market segments, only value added distributors can
provide suitable installation and support services.
Hybrid distribution
Aji Joseph, General Manager, ESET
Reseller Middle EastFEBRUARY 2012 35
Software
COVER FEATURE
Today, the primary application suite for Focus Softnet
is its ERP o!ering followed by academic records
management and its inventory management solution.
Initially started as an accounting management
solutions vendor, it quickly progressed towards o!ering ERP,
CRM, warehousing for logistics suppliers and academic records
management for universities and schools.
Its base in the UAE alone is close to 4,000 customers and
it has 20,000 customers across the GCC. The main driver for its
business in the past and the present is its installed SME customer
base. Many of its products today were started as projects based on
specific customer requirements. Since the projects have now been
converted into products, the customer is assured of continuous
support and upgrade. Close to 60% of its revenue is from its
installed base and includes maintenance services, upgrades and
expansion of licenses, amongst others.
Focus Softnet has set up regional partnerships in selected
countries including Egypt, Libya, Syria, Lebanon and India. The
regional partners are meant to be fully self su!cient in terms of
presales, installation and after sales support. Only for external
module development and customisation of the application does
Focus Softnet provide its own resources and support for the
regional partners.
Software licenses are perpetual licenses and are shared at
60:40 ratios between the regional partners and Focus Softnet.
Other services revenue including installation, maintenance and
after sales support are retained by the regional partner. At these
locations, “We are not doing anything directly with the customer,”
says Hyder. However, Focus Softnet is available to assist in closing
deals.
“The majority of product sales are around the ERP product.
It is a push product and sells everywhere.” For any upgrades to
the existing customer base it qualifies as a fresh sale and comes
again with a perpetual license. The regional partners also work as
exclusive regional value added distributors. If there are any leads in
the region they are passed onto the regional partners to develop.
And if there are any resellers the partners are expected to support
them as well.
In India, Focus Softnet has set up five o!ces and is working
through Franchise India to set up additional partner o!ces around
the country. The primary requirement is to set up o!ces in class
B and C, smaller cities towns around the country, which are less
accessible from the five primary o!ces. Franchise India is helping
them set up both regional distributor partners and unit partners.
SMEs and ERP
Ali Hyder, CEO Focus Softnet
36 Reseller Middle East FEBRUARY 2012
Seven years ago, global banking vendor Misys made a
strategic decision to bring in a partner led culture
across the software organisation. Two years after this
decision, the partner organisation was created. Today
Misys recognises three types of partners: sales partners, who are
involved across the complete sales cycles, influence the decision
and connect to the right people in an account; delivery partners
who assist in implementation, consultancy, subject matter experts
and technical resources; and strategic partners who work on a
global delivery scale.
Across the region Misys uses partners as eyes and ears in
the market. “Globally, the highest participation of partners in
deals is from Middle East and Africa,” says Attar. And that change
has happened over the last four years, according to him. The
membership of the regional partner advisory council has reached
35 from the initial number of 12 three years ago. And between Africa
and Middle East, Misys relies on partners the most from Africa. This
is not surprising considering the slow entry and exit procedures of
business professionals across most of the African countries. It is
for this reason that Misys relies heavily on a procedure of technical
enablement with its African partners.
“Most of our presales work is done by Misys itself, but we
do transfer knowledge to our partners in order to quantify the
opportunity and have the basic knowledge of the solutions” says
Attar. Misys solution consultants run training classes for free for the
partners or at a nominal cost depending on the complexity of the
courses. These are run throughout the year at Dubai and include
value added sales road maps, higher level of technical information,
how to position the product, how to identify opportunities and
others.
When Misys directly receives a request for proposal it makes
considerable e"ort to qualify its response and calls it a deal
structure, The first step is to identify the partner who should be
involved in the deal and this is based on the where is the bank
located, response required in the proposal, local resources required
on site and overall resources required for the project. A deal
structure is designed that goes through multiple departments within
Misys and finally requires a group decision on how to structure the
deal and how to respond in the proposal.
If the request for proposal is generated by a sales partner an
opportunity is registered and a deal structure is again generated.
However there are a number of additional inclusions, which cover
role and responsibility of the sales partner during this period, the
governance and review procedure, the agreed commission for the
partner and assistance that Misys will provide during this period.
If the partner is also a service partner in addition to being a sales
partner, the deal structure is accordingly modified. An important
consideration is the visibility factor of Misys.
Partner’s bank
Amer Attar, Partner Sales, Senior Director MEA, Global Partners Group, Misys
Reseller Middle EastFEBRUARY 2012 37
For SAP, which operates across the largest government
and public sector enterprise organisations in the region,
partner selection is of critical importance. “With the
complexity of signing contracts and agreements with
the government, you need di!erent types of partners,” explains
Jabri. For him, the year 2011 was the year of SAP’s channel. SAP
put into place a comprehensive partner recruitment, enablement
and activation programme, which uses a business plan format as
its basic core template. SAP has segregated the market in multiple
ways allowing these variables to be tracked in the partner business
plan and inside SAP’s ecosystem.
The first segmentation is of customer accounts segregated into
named accounts, where SAP directly manages the relationship and
the rest of market which it calls the volume accounts. The market
is also segmented by geography, by industry and by business
applications. A partner business plan clearly specifies all these
four variables. Also listed is the revenue expectation, the technical
manpower and consulting resources, credit lines, legal support and
finally the extent of investment required to make this happen.
When SAP first activated its regional partner eco system, it
inherited some partners by way of its acquisition of Sybase and
Business Objects. It also leveraged on its global relationships across
system integrators, ISVs and consulting companies. The net result is
its opening base of partners into 2012. “We are taking all of the above
and moulding it into a new channel strategy,” he explains. Moreover
SAP has created a single document contract called Partner Edge 2.0
that governs all relationships with all partners. On a regional level
such as MENA, all partner relationships are managed by the Head
of Eco Systems and Channels. And for the rest of SAP, all its internal
resources are unified into one theme reporting directly to the CEO.
Once the business plan is signed o" by both SAP and the
partner, a calendar of enablement is drawn up and initiated with
delay. “We help them and guide them and they go through a six
month, one year or two year programme to reach the level of the
business plan they have committed to.” SAP recruits partners in
such a way that they complement each other rather than compete
with each other. SAP also ensures there are su!cient partners
for customers to choose from and avoid the possibility of a cartel
formation.
While SAP has drawn up its partner contracts, Jabri points out
the intents are not to restrict the channel but to keep it open and
allow cross over if required. A smaller VAR may find the opportunity
to enter a named account through a special relationship or political
alignment. Under these circumstances SAP encourages them to
form a consortium with a larger system integrator partner or it lends
the smaller partner its resources. Whichever the final approach, the
idea is that partners should thrive in terms of their capability and
relationships.
Partner Edge 2.0
Mazen Jabri, Head of Ecosystem and Channels, SAP Middle East and North Africa
COVER FEATURESoftware
38 Reseller Middle East FEBRUARY 2012
MINDWARE FZ LLCTecom, Cayan Business Center, 10th floor,
PO Box 55609, Dubai, United Arab EmiratesTel: +971 4 450 0600, Fax: +971 4 450 0678
MINDWARE SAUDI ARABIAOlaya Street (opposite Olaya Mall next to
Bank Aljazeera, LG Building, 1st floor), P.O.Box: 10586,Postal Code 11443, Olaya, Riyadh, KSA
Tel: +966 1 215 3126, Fax: +966 1 215 3127
MINDWARE LEBANON6th Floor, St Georges Center,
Main Road, Horch Tabet, Sin El Fil, Beirut, Lebanon,Tel: + 961 1 499 399, Fax: + 961 1 490 274
MINDWARE EGYPTSameh Kandil, Country Area Manager
M: +2 010 141 6916, E: Sameh_kandil@mindware.ae
www.mindware.ae
DYNAMIC DISTRIBUTOR TO THE M
IDDLE
EAS
T
VAD
FEATURE
“I do not believe a regional broad line distributor can become a true VAD”In 1980, Baghdadi formed Aptec Distribution to bring appropriate technologies to the region and made it reason for the name of his company. Now thirty years later, after having adopted the value added model of distribution, Baghdadi is faced with the challenge of consolidating Aptec’s position as the leading value added distributor in the region. With an MSc and PhD in computer sciences from London, Baghdadi is no stranger to the mix of technology and business dynamics in the region. A fact recognised by Microsoft when it invited Baghdadi to its recent partner Advisory Council in November 2011. He shares his opinions on what lies ahead as Aptec progresses down the value added route.
Dr Ali Baghdadi, CEO and President of Aptec Group
40 Reseller Middle East FEBRUARY 2012
Now that much of the IT industry
and the channel partners have
got used to the idea of the VAD
business model being the
mainstay of 2012 and the years ahead, what
are the next steps that need to be
addressed by both vendors and the channel
industry in 2012 to complete the
transformation?
A vendor has to realise that
delivering solutions through a VAD requires
investment and preparation by both VAD
and vendor. Therefore, a vendor trying to
introduce a product to the market using the
same channel strategies used for broad line
distribution will ultimately fail in getting its
rightful market share. I do not believe that
a broad line distributor can successfully
combine traditional distribution business
with value added distribution. A channel
reseller must decide on its areas of speciality,
must select the menu of products for its
solution and get its sta# skilled up. This is
neither a retail business nor the business
of selling printers and laptops. At Aptec we
have invested in skilling up consultants and
opening training centres to help new entrants
and channel partners who do not wish to fully
invest in such resources.
How do you see the adoption of the VAD
business model in the short term under
the complex and multiple influences of
new technologies like mobile and remote
computing, uphill movement of transaction
resellers towards becoming value added
resellers, budget limitations at the end
user and increasing shake out across the
regional channels?
VADs sell solutions to VARs. VARs
have to invest in building knowhow and in
selecting their niche areas. New technologies
or new devices may or may not play a part
in the solution, be it a security system, a
virtualised data centre, an in-house cloud
system or other integrated solutions. The
right device and technology will fit in and
would make the solution more e"cient or
attractive. However, every solution has a core
infrastructure or engine, usually driven by a
software system that needs to be understood
and mastered by the VAR and of course
the VAD. End user budgets should not be a
limitation if we know how to show the end user
the economies and cost savings generated
from the given solution. We found that SMBs in
particular form the largest segment purchasing
solutions for the improvement of e"ciency
and protection.
From another point of view, does the VAD
business model provide a future for those
regional channel players used to high top
line revenue figures and how would they
manage the short term impact of moving
towards a VAD type channel engagement,
while facing reduced demand from their
traditional transaction resellers?
I do not believe a regional broad line
distributor can become a true VAD. The culture,
knowledge, cost models are very di#erent. If we
look at global players you will find that global
VADs are di#erent from the global broad liners
like Ingram Micro. Techdata for example set up
its VAD business in Azlan and this is a hybrid
model that may work to a certain extent.
Are there any additional technology
segments that you feel can be brought into
Aptec’s portfolio and leveraged through the
VAD model?
As I said, we first look at the
solutions, then look for the best technologies
that may fit. Today we o#er a multitude of
solutions with components supplied by more
than 30 of the world’s leading IT vendors.
Such solutions may be security, data centre,
storage, virtualisation, private and public
clouds, networking and others. Or they may
be application solutions, such as database
engines, telepresence, data analytics, CRM,
smart dashboards and unified communications.
This year we plan to expand our solutions
to cover enterprise solutions for SMBs in
cooperation with SAP, Microsoft and Oracle.
We are also investing in training centres
that will contribute to the skilling up and
training on technical competencies. I also
believe that people skill development is an
This year we plan to expand our solutions to cover
enterprise solutions for SMBs in cooperation with SAP, Microsoft and Oracle
For distributors, VAD 3.0 and for resellers VAR 3.0 in my
opinion will evolve with the development and increase of services as a major contributor to the income stream
Reseller Middle EastFEBRUARY 2012 41
VAD
FEATURE
essential aspect that cannot be ignored by a
VAR for his own teams or his SMB customers,
therefore we have just signed up as an
authorised training partner for the Cisco
Entrepreneur Institute across the region.
Are you satisfied with Aptec’s current
leverage in the area of specialised security
and storage solutions?
Storage solution is one of the
fastest growth areas in the IT industry.
Combining storage with data security creates
a multitude of opportunities and potential
innovations. We are developing some unique
solutions jointly with our key vendors, which
we hope to roll-out during 2012.
How significant is the impact of the Cloud
delivery model on the VAD model of
channel engagement?
Cloud delivery is a SAAS or IAAS
model that presents an alternative to normal
software licenses or in house infrastructures.
We are o#ering public Cloud solutions
including Microsoft O"ce 365 and other CRM
and sales tracking tools developed by ISVs.
I expect that SMBs will opt for some Cloud
solutions and eventually graduate to private
Clouds or solutions based on their own data
centres. VARs will have to identify and o#er
complementary Cloud solutions to those built in
house. The challenge and opportunity will be in
developing services around Cloud applications.
VARs have been used to traditional delivery
of on premise system integration and system
deployment or maintenance as a main service.
New services for the Cloud will need to be
adopted and the entire service model and
revenue stream will change.
Does Cloud sales, pricing and delivery
model fit in well with the VAD business
model or will there need to be significant
changes leading us to a form of VAD 3.0?
All vendors o#ering Cloud based
solutions are learning or experimenting on
how to present the best pricing models. They
have adopted di#erent methods, but I am sure
a winning model will emerge in the next year
or two. I expect Cloud revenues to be in the
range of 20% to 30% of a VAR’s revenue in
mature markets. In the Middle East region, I see
this being around 10% of revenues in the near
to medium term. As I said, Cloud o#erings will
complement enterprise and in house systems.
For distributors, VAD 3.0 and for
resellers, VAR 3.0 in my opinion will evolve
with the development and increase of
services as a major contributor to the
income stream. I believe we shall see new
tools developed to assist in such services
including advanced remote monitoring,
remote deployment, remote training and
remote maintenance. Imagine the idea of
a call centre or a BPO associated with the
cloud o#erings.
With multiple early adopter vendors
pushing Cloud delivery services into the
regional channel, what will be the impact on
the VAD business model?
This will be complementary to a high
extent. However, some vendors are o#ering
relatively low margins on a finder’s fee basis
and some distributors may find that the costs
to cover such an operation exceed the income.
I believe di#erent models will emerge and this
will depend on the type and complexity of the
Cloud solution. ISPs and GSM operators will
enter the game as they own large communities
of end users. A cloud specialist may have to
become the service provider for such entities.
Solutions o#ered through such large operators
will tend be consumer oriented and similar to
Apple’s iCloud or email and communications
related o#erings.
What is the significance of your attending
and being invited to attend the recent
Microsoft Partner Advisory Council?
It is great to participate in
forming ideas on how Cloud solutions can
be channelled in the future and to influence
the thinking of some of the world’s leading
innovators on how their products can reach
the end user. The Council have some of
the most experienced minds in the world of
distribution and some of their or our ideas will
be adopted in Microsoft’s future strategies.
What are the learning points that you
came away with at the end of the partner
engagements at this forum?
Services, services, services are a
key to survival! Distribution is here to stay and
to grow. Innovate, adapt, build your skills or die!
What were the points you communicated
from Aptec’s point of view and from a
regional perspective at this forum?
We covered many issues ranging
from Cloud channel strategy, piracy, the
future of OEM software and online tools
used by distributors.
At the top management level, how do
you feel about this vast array of changes
that are taking place both in the vendor
technology delivery area and in the channel
partner transformation area?
Most exciting! It is a great honour to
be part of the changes happening in our region.
Having studied computer technology for years
and having studied business and practiced it for
more than 30 years, I enjoy and feel privileged
when I can make a small contribution to the
advancement of IT in this region.
What are the best real world experiences
that you are learning from and using
internally to plan ahead?
People are the greatest asset and a
great source of knowledge, so I learn to listen
and put my trust in people and their skills. I
learnt to make calculated risks without which
you cannot succeed. One can never stop
learning, so I never stop studying. I also learnt
that if you do not like what you do, then change
and sometimes you have to follow your heart.
How do you visualise Aptec’s business two
to three years from now?
A great company with great people
contributing to a real change and to the
advancement of one of the most aspiring and
exciting regions in the world. //
Services, services, services are a key to survival ! Distribution
is here to stay and to grow. Innovate, adapt, build your skills or die!
42 Reseller Middle East FEBRUARY 2012
What makes an ideal VADThe value added distribution model is in vogue today. Some of the players are new, some are hybrid and some are established. A look at the current dynamics of this space!
In today’s channel market there
is high pulse of new technologies
moving into the mainstream of
value business. From an eagles
perspective these include Cloud, storage,
data management, mobility, security,
unified computing, virtualisation to name a
few of the prominent ones. There is also
the high pulse of existing distributors
rearranging their divisions to take
advantage of new opportunities and
scaling down legacies of the past. One of
the recent appearances is the spin-o! of
value divisions from mainstream broadline
distribution operations and raises the
questions of suitability.
Global value added distributor Westcon,
manages a five pronged product portfolio
to assess the suitability and acceptance of
new vendors into its stable of value based
services. If the vendor is not a good fit into its
information convergence technology umbrella
and further into its security, convergence,
mobility portfolio, the distributor does not
pursue further engagement. “For any green
field technology you have the opportunity
to add value over a period of time before
everybody starts developing their skill sets
around it. Then it goes o# and you need to
move onto something else. Our objective is to
find the right mix of products and play in each
of the segments where we can add value,”
says Venu Menon, Sales and Marketing
Director, Westcon Middle East. Hence the
starting point for any vendor relationship is to
find the right technology vendor profile and
the right stage of the product life cycle, where
a value added distribution model works as a
win-win for all sides.
Another reason why the profile of value
added distribution business has gone up
many notches in the last few quarter, is
the increased responsibility and business
development investment being funnelled
into the budgets of distributor partners. “With
vendor resources getting scarce, they are
depending more and more on value added
distributors to do lot of front line work on
their behalf in the commercial and general
business, from A to Z,” explains Menon.
A typical market span of a tier-one
vendor crosses service providers, enterprise
space and the small and medium market
segment. With contraction and longer lead
times in the first two segments, the vendor
driven, distributor total accessible market
has been growing consistently. “The SMB
business is substantial, more controlled,
more measurable and is being left to value
added distributors. That is why there is a
lot of interest from broadline guys to get
into these spaces.” Also with extended
periods of payments from the government
and public sector end user organisations,
the stability of some of the tier-one partners
has been a#ected. Since business with tier
one partners has become risky from a credit
point of view, vendors want to put as much
of the risk into value added distributors who
understand the local terrain much better.
While the opportunity for value added
Five pillars to evaluate market opportunities, Steve Lockie, Group Managing Director MENA, Westcon
Reseller Middle EastFEBRUARY 2012 43
VAD
FEATURE
distributors may be growing with the increase
in distributors total accessible market share,
there is a flip side to the Westcon approach
of addressing the market with five pillars
and only five pillars. “If we were end to end
we would be a broadline distributor. So it is
a very conscious decision that we want to
keep this value distribution space and keep
speaking the language of the reseller. The
unfortunate side e#ect is we will lose business
opportunities,” explains Steve Lockie, Group
Managing Director MENA, Westcon.
Hence the strength of a value added
distribution model is its closeness and
relationship with the reseller community;
however because of the inherent nature of
specialisation it does mean that it cannot
address all possible opportunities in the
market. Notwithstanding this shortfall, the value
added distribution business model has some
other very important riders built into its success.
Other than assessment of vendor
suitability and corresponding value support
by the distributor, the next most fundamental
aspect is assessment of the product life cycle
stage. When a technology product is in a
nascent stage, the skills knowhow rests only
with the vendor and as such it has minimum
reach into the market and minimum sales
volume. As the requirement of disseminating
skills knowhow into the market increases, the
appropriate distribution model also changes.
It moves from a direct engagement model to
tier-one, value added and finally into broadline.
Hence selection of the most appropriate
distribution business model depends largely
on the product life cycle stage and the current
and projected sales volume.
On the flip side, the knee jerk reaction
of distributors spinning o# value divisions
does not imply their basic business model is
flawed or obsolete. “Broadline is a very viable
business and it is an essential part of the
supply chain. You should not be embarrassed
about being a broadline distributor, instead
celebrate it. You need to be focussed on what
you are good at. The challenge is doing the
job that needs to be done for the margin that
is available,” remarks Lockie.
The other critical success factors for
running a successful value added distribution
business are the right set of skilled manpower
and resources and close relationships with
the partner community.
While quality of people are important
everywhere, it is immensely more important
in the value added business than in the
broadline business. “Ultimately people
do business with people and that only
happens over a period of time. The quality of
people you use to engage with the partner
ecosystem can make or break you,” says
Menon. For every business opportunity raised
by a partner into a value added business,
the qualitative aspect of the engagement is
the one the partner carries forward into the
relationship. This can include joint presales
meetings, time spent over the proposal and
BOQ, credit lines, proof of concept, project
management, technology skills training
and adherence to commitments, amongst
others. The weakest link is usually always the
partner relationship and requires a high level
of continuous quality engagement from the
value added distributor’s sales team.
A show case example of the close
engagement between a vendor and its value
added distributors is EMC’s relationship with
its regional distributor partners. EMC uses
nine value added distributors across the
region and works very closely them. The
level, depth and intensity of the engagements
it has with its distributor partners are as
if the teams are from within EMC itself.
“We treat them as one family. We listen to
The weakest link is usually always the partner relationship
and requires a high level of continuous quality engagement from the value added distributor’s sales team
Focus on quality of talent in sales, Venu Menon, Sales and Marketing Director, Westcon Middle East
44 Reseller Middle East FEBRUARY 2012
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them, tell them our strategy and we set
the expectations on day one,” says Havier
Haddad, Channel and Alliances Manager,
TEAM Region, EMC. Meetings are held on
regular basis, with reviews of the previous
period and considerable planning and details
into the upcoming period. Both sides come
up with their targets but the final target is put
down together. “We plan together; we set
the expectations and then come up with a
joint target. We will go into details about who
will do what. Once we have done the joint
planning, the name of the game becomes
execution,” continuous Haddad.
EMC therefore maintains a high degree of
transparency between itself and its partners.
By spending time and e#ort in details, both
sides can focus more clearly on the results
and lack of results without operational
conflict. “For us we have no choice, it is the
only way to scale, we cannot do it without
our distributors.” Since both sides also put
down their expectations at an early stage, the
extent of synergy can be gauged upfront and
costly turnarounds avoided. “If we do not feel
the synergy we do not sign. This is why I take
time in the preparatory phase, if they do not
have the mindset it automatically does not
work,” says Haddad.
Amongst its distributor partners it
appears to have the best synergy with
Computerlinks that operates across the
region excluding Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
“Computerlinks is a blueprint of a value
added distribution model,” concedes
Hadad. Amongst the impressive traits the
When a technology product or solution is nascent, the skills knowhow of how to deploy the product is virtually non-existent in the market.
Only the vendor approaches the market through direct end user engagement. Progressively the vendor engages with tier-one partners and
system integrators, the availability of skills in the market begins to increase and sales volumes start rising. During this progression, tier one
partner and system integrators begin to appoint sales partners to help resell the product and are referred to as distregtors. The next stage
is to develop technical skills amongst partners on a wider regional scale. This skills enablement is managed by a value added distributor.
As partners and end users get conversant with the technology behind a product it gets commoditised and competition amongst partners
becomes fierce with minimal margins. Volume is the name of the game and this is best managed by a volume or broadline distributor.
Reseller Middle EastFEBRUARY 2012 45
VAD
FEATURE
distributor has demonstrated with its vendor
partner is its flexibility to EMC’s tactical
changes as well as its readiness to enter
jointly into any operational investment.
“They are flexible to change whenever we
need any change and we do not feel the
resistance. Whenever we are investing they
are investing together, without waiting for
any returns,” he says.
From a Computerlink’s perspective,
it puts down its success to an indepth
understanding of what EMC requires.
There is considerable transparency at the
management level and the high quality of
sales and technical talent at Computerlinks
has helped to strengthen the relationship.
“We are seen as an extension of EMC’s sales
force, so that partners use our resources in
the market for the whole sales cycle. At the
end of the day we are one team and we are
flexible in our approach,” says Kieran Hernon,
Sales Manager, Computerlinks. His biggest
challenge is to find good sales, business
development and presales talent in the
storage arena.
Another example of the importance
of partner skill levels is from Sourcefire
that provides cyber security solutions
for the global top 2000 organisations.
“The Sourcefire product is an extremely
sophisticated product. If you do not implement
it correctly it is not going to work and the
customer will not be happy. We would not
sign up a transactional partner for this; that
would be a disaster. They would not know
what to do with it, how to install it and not
be able to integrate it. Sourcefire business is
all about quality, not quantity, says Anthony
Perridge, Channel Director EMEA, Sourcefire.
Across the region Sourcefire uses FVC and
Secureway Networks as its distributors and
has four reseller partners.
From Westcon’s point of view, the
services its partners rate of highest value
is the assurance of being o#ered the most
appropriate solution that meets their end user
requirement. “While buying the right solution
the risk is sanitised by Westcon,” says Menon.
Another fundamental di#erence between
the two types of business models is the profit
margin structure. A broadline distributor
usually operates at margins from 1% to 4%
and works on volume turnover rather than
margin gains. The motto is always pile them
high, move them out fast and it tends to be
a fulfilment business. “For a value added
business, if you are doing business at 4%
margin you will not make it,” says Menon. The
recurring cost base of value added business
is much higher than a broadline business
and includes a team of skilled technical
resources, investment into proof of concept
centres, investment into continuous product
and technology training and longer lead
time for orders. Going into the market and
selecting a piece of technology overnight
does not complete the transition into a value
added distribution model. “If you have a great
piece of technology and put it in a catalogue
and send it out to 3,000 resellers, it is not
going to sell itself. You need to educate the
market and you need to train and support the
resellers,” explains Lockie.
The two business models are so
fundamentally di#erent that most players in
the field reject the possibility of a broadline
distributor migrating to a value added
distribution model. Some of the measures
being taken in the field today are half way,
down the road initiatives, to access products
that are in between a value added model and
a broadline model. “You can dress yourself
up to be a bit more value added than the guy
down the road. You can pick up products
pre-commodity, give them special treatment
and over time take them through mid value
distribution,” explains Lockie about some
of the initiatives in the market today. “But it
is a long and arduous process to make the
transition,” concludes Menon. //
Complete transparency with EMC, Kieran Hernon, Sales Manager, Computerlinks
Computerlinks is a blueprint of a value added distribution
model
46 Reseller Middle East FEBRUARY 2012
Rewarding a VADA look at Optimus’ innovative partner loyalty programme
Loyalty programmes are meant to reward a
partner for maintaining positive relationships
with their distributor. In the case of Wafa
programme from Optimus, not only is the
partner assessed in terms of business
volume concluded, but Optimus also
measures the ratio of business it lost through
the partner for some reason or the other.
The business model of a value
added distributor rests on a continuous
and sustained relationship with a value
Using Wafa to get feedback from reseller partners, Meera Kaul, Managing Director, Optimus Technology and Telecom
Wafa is
Optimus’
tiered loyalty
programme,
that enables
partners to
earn loyalty
points for their
continuous
and consistent business with Optimus.
Introduced in the last quarter of 2011,
the loyalty programme is categorised
into loyalty levels of Blatin, Dahab
and Fida. New partners enter the
Wafa programme at the Fida Level
and, through continuous business,
graduates to Dahab and Blatin
depending on their sales volumes with
Optimus in the year.
Channel partners can redeem their
Wafa points against options such as
vendor led paid training programmes,
air travel ticket to attend Optimus
training programmes, purchasing
Optimus professional services, payment
for next sales transaction, credit notes
to be used against accounts payable
and participation in various Optimus-
approved marketing activities.
“We saw that as a gap in our model. Now
with the loyalty programme we are not only
measuring the partner’s performance with
us but our performance with the partner.
We base a lot of our e#orts on design and
technicalities and these technical resources
are extremely expensive. If we were only
concentrated on trading all these things do
not matter. But since we are investing in it, we
need to measure the percentage of business
lost, in order to measure the return on our
investment. That is why the introduction of
a loyalty programme was very important
towards the end of last year.”
The Wafa programme gives points
to the reseller based on value of sales,
consistency of business and how much
business did Optimus lose because of its
internal issues. Optimus has started looking
at the micro details of each engagement
such as inflexibility in insurance, terms and
conditions, design, pricing and others. “What
we have realised over the last four years,
ultimately these are the small things that
a#ect the quality of the relationship and
repeat business.”
WAFA LOYALTY PROGRAM
added reseller or reseller. The distributor
invests the time of its pre sales consulting
team or other technical resources to
help the reseller penetrate an end user
account. The progress is much slower
than a transactional engagement but if
invested correctly the time and e#ort of
the technical teams can give longer term
and higher percentage of returns. From
this point of view, if Optimus finds that the
engagement with a particular reseller has
been significant both in terms of time and
resources, but the financial returns have
been weak, the correct approach would be
to seek feedback for the low returns.
“If the quality of the relationship is
a#ected and we cannot manage it, we might
as well be a trader. If we start measuring our
value, it is a two way process. It cannot be
a one way process where we keep pushing
resources to do a certain service and not get
any return on employing those resources. We
need longetivity and stability in the account,”
explains Meera Kaul, Managing Director,
Optimus Technology and Telecom.
The Wafa loyalty programme is therefore
a two way process, where a reseller’s
commitment towards value added services
from Optimus is measured. And on reciprocal
basis the partner is asked to give feedback
on the quality of the engagement with
Optimus. “Instead of just going the number
game we have made it more qualitative,”
explains Kaul.
The value added model of channel
partner engagement therefore has a loop
hole in it: What is the assurance that quality
engagement with a reseller will necessarily
convert into a favourable and conclusive
deal transaction with the same distributor?
The most singular aspect of the value
added model is therefore, how much of the
work done with a reseller translates into
actual orders or business or how engaged
is the reseller with the distributors account
management team.
Reseller Middle EastFEBRUARY 2012 47
VAD
FEATURE
FAQ: deal, value based engagementsWhat is the di!erence between a deal or
transaction based engagement versus a
solution or value based engagement with a
customer?
A deal based engagement focuses on
immediate gains from that particular deal. Both
parties try to maximise their returns in the short
term and no e#ort is spent on developing the
relationship for long term mutual benefits. It has
characteristics of a commodity sale with low
margin and high volume.
Compared to this, a value-based
engagement depends more on long term
gains. Organisations would typically let go
o# immediate returns to build trust and get
repeat business. The idea here is to work as a
consultant to customers and design solutions
as per their needs. Value based sale has the
potential to impact areas beyond the scope
and time of the engagement. Some of it can
be quantified and some of it can only be
anticipated. There is a high degree of trust that
needs to be built in accomplishing such a sale.
!
If there is a di!erence in the type of
engagement, how is it linked to the associated
mark-ups that a supplier may include in either
of the transactions?
Pros and cons of a deal based engagements
Pros and cons of a value based engagements
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hence can charge a premium. It is a longer
term sale that requires upfront investment of
time and resources on both the customer side
as well as the solution provider side. Research
says customers are ready to pay upto 25%
more for a better service.
From an end-customer point of view, what are
the possible variances in satisfaction levels
of deal based engagement and value based
engagement?
Variance can be high in both the cases as
satisfaction depends on so many things. In a
deal-based scenario if the product is robust,
pricing is competitive and after-sales service
is good, satisfaction would be very high. On
the other hand, if both product and service
quality is poor, satisfaction levels would be low
irrespective of the price paid.
Similarly, for a solution-based engagement,
satisfaction is a result of experiences at all touch
points with the organisation. An organisation
can go completely wrong in understanding a
customer’s needs and in designing a solution for
the end customer. So satisfaction is a factor of
how organisations perform at each touch-point in
relation to the expectation of the customer.
Most suited customer environment
Compelling reasons to switch
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#"+.)/-)3+.$")"'(+("*"'/)5IS;)K=LD<)H<=L,B=GH=?HIE<H)E><CE)GAB)=K=IL=ML<,B?=B<SIC)IF>A?B=GC<&F>=CB)AG)CDEBAF<?)E=BIE@=CBIAG.AGS)B<?F)IGKALK<F<GB)@?AF)K<GHA?)'<<HE)E<GIA?)F=G=S<F<GB)IGKALK<F<GB
3+.$")/-)#"+.)"'(+("*"'/,B=GH=?H)>?AHDCB)A?)E<?KIC<*DLBI>L<)ED>>LI<?E.AO)@IG=GCI=L)IF>=CB.AO)CDEBAF<?)E=BIE@=CBIAG)IF>=CB).AO)>?AHDCB)JD=LIBP)IF>=CB
A deal-based commodity sale would be more
price, discount and availability based. The
products have low entry and exit barriers
and hence are more competitive. You give
a discount and push your product against
competition. You largely sell on price, customer
friendly terms and availability.
Whereas in a solution based engagement
you try to create value for the customer. You
might be designing a product or service and
Arti Gupta is Managing Partner of Lead On Consultants. They enable organisations to deliver exceptional customer experience.!
48 Reseller Middle East FEBRUARY 2012
Multiple buyers, multiple messagesWhy a role-based sales approach is required for complex IT sales
The message coming from technology
buyers is clear — they want more from
sales engagements than a product
discussion. There has been a shift in the
way vendors must sell in complex sales
environments – it is no longer purely a
technical sell to a technical audience,
but increasingly involves business and
functional executives.
Where multiple decision makers and
influencers are involved, marketing and sales
content often does not resonate. Marketing
messaging typically lack su"cient granularity
to be useful to sales, leaving salespeople
to create their own versions with potential
disconnects and inconsistencies with
corporate messaging.
Buyers are telling Gartner that they are
having di"culty understanding the relevance
of a solution or its impact and value. Value,
relevance and impact depend largely on how
they are measured and what the buyer is
responsible for — in other words, the buyer’s
role is a key issue.
Role-based messaging helps address
this problem and can be an e#ective
first step toward building a strong sales
enablement function. It considers the buyer’s
organisational role -- job title, description,
responsibilities, authority, and crafts a story
specifically for them. This improves relevance
by connecting the o#ering to issues specific
to each role.
It is not separate from corporate
positioning, messaging or value propositions,
but takes these factors and adapts them for
solution, close more business faster and build
credibility and rapport with customers.
Vendors that are considering developing
and deploying this approach need to
understand and address the factors and
issues before proceeding to commit further
resources. The benefits of role-based
messaging in improving sales e#ectiveness
can be significant, but providers should not
underestimate the resources required or
the behavioural changes needed to achieve
those benefits.
Neil McMurchy is a Research Vice President with Gartner in the IT marketing and channel strategies group. He is based in Sydney.
Buyers are telling Gartner they are having difficulty understanding
the relevance of a solution or its impact and value
use with individual decision makers during a
sales interaction.
Role-based messaging provides a means
of significantly improving sales performance.
Two consistent themes characterise buyers’
basis of vendor di#erentiation in increasingly
undi#erentiated product markets: “The
winning provider understands my issues
and challenges, and translates its o#ering in
terms relevant to me and shows the value in
my terms.”
When sales people cannot articulate
tangible business value or lead a business
conversation, buyers tune out. When
salespeople cannot move past these
hurdles, sales cycles become longer and
conversion rates fall. Your brand su#ers
from a lack of credibility on the part of
sales representatives; selling expenses
increase and you are left with frustrated
salespeople.
Role-based messaging and positioning
does not replace existing investments in
strategic or solution-selling frameworks
or other investments in sales training.
It actually supports these as it provides
company specific information and enables
sales reps to spend less time tracking down
information and more time selling.
Role-based messaging is a very
e#ective first or early sales enablement
initiative that can drive significant and
fast impact across the sales organisation,
enabling them to better di#erentiate your
The winning provider understands my issues and challenges, and
translates its offering in terms relevant to me and shows the value in my terms
Neil McMurchy, Research Vice President, Gartner
Reseller Middle EastFEBRUARY 2012 49
PEOPLEJacob Lebo
All recruiters and employers face
common problems, yet here in the
Middle East and particularly in IT
these problems are noticeably
amplified. Overall the perception is there are
not enough qualified candidates – however
other common problems such as under
prepared, under educated or already gainfully
employed are consistently mentioned.
As a result many hours and much
hard work go into the recruitment of sta#.
Despite the hypercompetitive marketplace
rife with problems and sincere e#orts to
attract top talent, recruitment, development
and retention for position of sales is often
overlooked.
Addressing the larger prevailing
attitude throughout the region that the sales
profession is viewed more of a stepping-
stone to a better position does help to
understand the problem of attracting and
developing top IT sales talent. While both
job seekers and employers foster this
misperception it causes pain on both sides of
the equation.
As a virtue of being treated as second
class employees, sales professionals are
always on the hunt for their next higher
paying job, ready to jump ship with a
marginal salary increase and at a moment’s
notice. Employers are aware of this and
treat sales people as a flight risk, under
compensating; micromanaging and fostering
the atmosphere of not being indispensable.
This results in a vicious cycle of disloyalty
where sales professionals hop from
company to company acting as hired guns
for the next highest bidder.
Since retention of top sales talent starts
with recruitment, how do you attract the top
talent? This is simply put – by treating your
employees well. A more complicated answer
Valuing sales staff
would be a larger organisational change,
fostering an environment where it is viewed
upon as a great place to work. Since we as
humans spend better part of our days and
particularly our lives at work we look for great
and fun places to work. But what makes a
place great to work in and how do we attract
great people to work here?
When advertising and recruiting for a
position it is okay to use unique incentive
structures to attract top talent, and just
like o#ering value added services, this will
distinguish your business in the market place.
Besides straight monetary compensation here
are some other incentive ideas to attract top
talent, particularly sales talent.
O#ering the
ability to work one day at home a week.
However to keep employees productive
on these days clear and measurable
benefits and goals must be set.
Talented
people appreciate the opportunity
to perform a wide array of tasks and
responsibilities. Proclaiming this to be the
case when recruiting and hiring will drive
you top talent.
O!ering training and continuing
Along with a diverse skill
Branded as ready to jump the ship, there is more to managing the sales team than just meeting business targets
A thought leader in human and business development, Jacob Lebo develops software sales channels in the US and UAE for early stage companies. He is the lead market developer for Laimoon.com a disruptive online recruitment website.
As a virtue of being treated as second class employees, sales
professionals are always on the hunt for their next higher paying job, ready to jump ship with a marginal salary increase and at a moment’s notice
set, top talent needs to be driven to
excellence. Mastery of concepts and
technical aspects will contribute to
employees’ personal and professional
growth as well as creating more
knowledgeable employees for your
business.
Business
is not expected to grow without a clear
business plan, so why should your
employees be any di#erent? Laying out
clear career paths assist in showing
employees how they must perform to get
to where they want to be.
Unfortunately workers can become
comfortable at their jobs figuring out how to
do the least amount of work and still impress
their bosses. This is why unique and goal
driven compensation can enable employees
to perform not only for the business but also
for themselves. There are many challenges
in the sales profession in the MENA region.
Only when perceptions change and a few
forward thinking companies start to change
the environment will the market change and
sales professionals will soon follow.
50 Reseller Middle East FEBRUARY 2012
Karl Hougaard, Commercial DirectorTel: +971 50 8818577
Email: karl@cpidubai.com
Rajashree R Kumar, Commercial DirectorTel: +971 55 1053782
Email: raj@cpidubai.com
Jeevan Thankappan, Senior EditorTel: +971 55 1053774
Email: jeevan@cpidubai.com
Sathya Mithra Ashok, Senior EditorTel: +971 55 1053783
Email: sathya@cpidubai.com
Nominations close 15th February 2012
www.cnmeonline.com/nwmeawards
Manojeet Chowdhury
has joined Defiance
Technologies as Senior
Vice President. Prior to
this Chowdhury was the
Vice President and Head
of Mahindra Satyam
Middle East and Africa. Defiance
Technologies is part of Hindujas Group, one
of the largest multibillion Dollar groups from
India and focuses on IT services. With its
regional hub based out of Dubai its o#erings
include product engineering services,
enterprise business solutions and emerging
technology solutions. The Dubai hub will also
manage North Africa, Central Asia and Turkey.
Canon Middle East
announced the
appointment of Shadi
Bakhour as the new
General Manager of
Canon Emirates. Bakhour
is expected to provide
leadership stability and bring fresh business
insights, driving Canon Emirates’ growth plans
for 2012 and beyond and supporting the
company’s future business direction as it
moves towards becoming a solutions and
services-oriented organization. Bakhour, who
previously served as Director of Sales and
Marketing Operations at Xerox Saudi Arabia,
has an Executive Masters degree in Business
Administration from the American University
of Beirut in Lebanon and is a Lean Six Sigma
Green Belt holder.
SAP MENA has
appointed Ghassan Abu
Asba as Country Sales
Manager for Kuwait.
Reporting to Gergi
Abboud, Country
Manager for SAP Kuwait
and Qatar, Abu Asba will be responsible for
driving the country’s field sales operations
and ensuring momentum across all verticals.
He has more than 20 years of Middle East IT
industry experience, including stints as
Enterprise System Manager at Kuwait
Computer Company and Kuwait Country
Manager at HP. Some of his key accounts
included Wataniya, Equate, Kuwait Stock
Exchange, Ministry of Health and the Ministry
of Finance. Previous to this he worked as
Channel Manager at Cisco and Regional
Channel and Commercial Manager for
Juniper Networks in the North Gulf and
Levant region.
HP Middle East
announced Ayman
Dwidar as the new
Middle East Enterprise
Storage, Servers and
Networking Channel
Manager. Dwidar comes
to the role from within HP, where he moves
from Business Manager for BladeSystem in
the Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa
region to take on the responsibility of
overseeing and managing HP Middle East’s
relationships with its channel partners. He will
prioritise reaching out to new partners across
the region, developing HP’s business and will
drive specialisation in the channel to sell the
complete ESSN portfolio. Dwidar also leads
the Cloud team for HP, driving the growth of
Cloud opportunity in the MEMA region. Prior
to HP he worked at Dell Middle East.
Gulf Business Machines
has appointed Miguel El
Khoury as Country
General Manager for
GBM Abu Dhabi. In this
role, El Khoury will be
responsible for the
relationship with GBM customers in the
Emirate, the growth of business and the
development of skill levels of the GBM
employees in Abu Dhabi. El Khoury, has 15
years of regional experience and joined GBM
in 2005 as Networking and Services
Manager. In 2009, he was promoted to
Director of Integrated Networking and Site
Services where he was responsible for
running the company’s networking business
across most of the adjacent regions. Prior to
joining GBM, El Khoury worked for Saudi
Business Machines for almost nine years.
Tech Mahindra has
appointed Girish Bhat as
the new Vice President
of Sales and Operations
for the Middle East and
African region. He has
more than 22 years of
industry experience across diverse
geographies. Prior to his new position, he
served as Head of Africa region at Tech
Mahindra. Tech Mahindra is planning entry
into markets like UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia
for applications outsourcing, system
integration, managed services, business
process outsourcing and security solutions. It
will be rolling out a new portfolio of services
for the region’s telco providers including
value added services, e-security,
infrastructure management and network
services.
Ciena Corporation
announced appointment
of Saad Khan as
Regional Managing
Director in the Middle
East. Based out of the
company’s Abu Dhabi
o"ce, Khan is responsible for overall
management and growth of Ciena’s business
in the region. He has more than 15 years
experience in the telecom industry and was
previously Vice President of Services group,
Alcatel Lucent Middle East and Africa. Prior to
Alcatel-Lucent, Khan served several years in
Ericsson’s managed services and hosting
practice, based out of the Middle East and
North America. He has also worked in the
services and support areas of several US
telecommunications service providers. Khan
holds an MBA degree from University of
Chicago’s Booth School of Business and a
Bachelor of Science in Marketing from
Northeastern University, Chicago.
Movements
PEOPLE
Reseller Middle EastFEBRUARY 2012 53
PEOPLEAli Mohd Alamadi
Alamadi’s ambition is to become a leading professional in the
field of information security in the region. Joining aeCERT’s
emergency response team at UAE’s telecommunication
regulatory authority in 2007, he recollects the four year stint to
have been the richest in his professional career. Now working as principal
consultant at help AG since mid 2011, Alamadi admits moving to the private
sector was not without its share of question marks.
“Everybody was telling me joining the private sector may not be the
right thing to do. But I felt it would put me in a unique position professionally,
eventually making me competitive in the local job market.” Alamadi
anticipated it would be culturally challenging to fit into help AG’s work
environment, but now well into the job Ali has no regrets. “It turned out to be
exactly the opposite and I find myself fitting well into help AG’s multicultural
environment.”
Ali has a Master’s of Science in Information Technology with specialisation
in Cyber Crime as well as QualysGuard specialist certification and enjoys
his current job role of conducting security risk assessments for diverse
environments. Since each company’s security environment is very di#erent
and unique, the job role is never boring and on the contrary becomes very
interesting. On the other hand educating customers on the benefits and
importance of establishing international and local security standards can
sometimes become the most challenging part of the job role. During his stint
at aeCERT, Ali found developing awareness campaigns in di#erent languages
for di#erent audiences as well as presenting it in di#erent emirates in the UAE
to be the most challenging.
Ali looks at each day as a new lesson in both his personal and
professional life. He loves languages and speaks Italian, Farsi and Urdu
fluently amongst others and is learning German. He describes himself as
eager to meet new people, open minded and cosmopolitan, social, well-
travelled and easy to get along with. Quality leisure time is spent with family,
friends and sports. “I cannot imagine a day without exercising.” Ali has another
passion. “I love writing and it gives me great joy.” So far he has written seven
titles, published one and is writing his eight. His favourite daydreams: to
become a professional writer and enjoy the simple things in life. //
help AG’s passionate writer
Region’s best
54 Reseller Middle East FEBRUARY 2012
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